Up by four points heading into the fourth quarter, the Helias Lady Crusaders needed to concentrate on two things with eight minutes to play Tuesday night against the St. Joseph's Academy Angels.
One, control the basketball. That hadn't been a problem through the first three quarters, as Helias had turned it over just nine times.
Two, make free throws. That had been a problem as the Lady Crusaders were just 5-of-15 at the line heading into the final period.
The Lady Crusaders took care of both issues and closed out a 48-44 win against the Angels at Rackers Fieldhouse.
"This was a big win for us," Helias coach Sarah Eagan said.
Helias didn't have a turnover in the final period and went 6-of-9 at the line to seal the victory.
"Clutch," Eagan said. "We can be up and down at the line, but we hit them when we needed to hit them."
The Angels were within three at 42-39 with 1:24 left when Luci Francka hit two free throws to push the Lady Crusaders' lead to five. Francka hit two more from the stripe with 1:05 remaining to make it 46-39.
St. Joseph's Academy then got a basket and a 3-pointer off the glass to cut Helias' lead to 46-44 with :16.6 left. Ashley Rehagen iced the win with a pair of free throws on Helias' next possession.
Helias wanted to set the tone early Tuesday night.
"We've been working on that in practice every single day," Eagan said. "We usually start with the first two minutes of a game, trying to get better at it."
The Lady Crusaders never trailed, scoring the first four points on their way to a 15-7 lead after one quarter. Olivia Johanns and Mai Nienhueser had six points each in the quarter for Helias.
Helias led by as many as 11 in the second quarter before St. Joseph's Academy closed the half with a 9-4 spurt to cut the Lady Crusaders' advantage to 27-21 at intermission.
St. Joseph's Academy got at close as two points in the third quarter on three occasions in the third quarter before a putback by Ellie Rockers gave Helias a 38-34 lead heading into the final period.
"Ellie and Erin (Wyrick) grabbed some big rebounds for us," Eagan said.
Rockers finished with six rebounds off the bench, while Wyrick had four. Nienhueser led Helias with nine boards as the Lady Crusaders outrebounded the bigger Angels 30-23 in the game.
Nienhueser finished with 14 points, while Francka totaled 10.
Mallory Stock scored a game-high 16 points for St. Joseph's Academy (11-10). Kelly McLaughlin added 13 points while pulling down 10 rebounds.
Helias (13-8) will host Hickman on Thursday. The JV game is slated for a 6 p.m. start, with the varsity to follow around 7:30 p.m.
III
It was Senior Night for the Lady Crusaders. Helias honored its three seniors - Francka, Johanns and Nienhueser - and their families in a pregame ceremony.