The Jefferson City Lady Jays took to the court Thursday night one day removed from entering the state rankings for the first time all season.
Did the Lady Jays' appearance in the No. 9 spot in the Class 5 poll take away any of their focus?
Not hardly.
The Lady Jays got out of the gate a little slow after their Senior Night festivities, but took the lead for good midway through the first quarter and never looked back while throttling Battle 61-26.
"Like I always tell the girls, we take it one practice at a time, one game at a time and we just go out and play. We don't worry about any other things," Jefferson City coach Brad Conway said. "... The rankings don't mean anything until that last week. It's great to see them getting that recognition, they've worked really hard and I'm really proud of them, but we've just got to stay focused."
The Lady Jays were focused on the defensive end all night, as six of Battle's 26 points came in the final three minutes after Jefferson City had cleared its bench.
The Spartans got three layups in the first 3 1/2 minutes of the game, tying it at 6, before the Lady Jays turned up the defensive pressure.
Battle would get just one field goal over the next 17:51, a span that took in parts of the first, second and third quarters.
"That's kind of been our focus the last two or three weeks, we want to shore up our defense," Conway said.
While the Spartans' offense started to sputter, the Lady Jays put theirs into high gear. They got eight first-quarter points from Megan Foster to go up 18-10, then got eight second-quarter points from Caitlin Anderson to take a 38-13 edge into the locker room.
"Offensively, we just concentrated on executing and getting good looks, and I thought we did a really good job of that," Conway said. "And our defense led to some offensive opportunities for us. The girls were really locked in with what we're trying to get done right now."
Jefferson City outscored Battle 13-4 in the third quarter to lead 51-17 heading to a final period that had a running clock throughout due to the mercy rule.
The Lady Jays' biggest lead was 42 points - at 61-19 when Foster hit two free throws, the first coming with slightly less than five minutes left and the next with slightly more than four minutes remaining.
Jefferson City had a 32-19 lead in rebounds, with 12 of them coming on the offensive end.
"We hadn't been doing a very good job of getting offensive boards, so that was kind of a point of emphasis," Conway said.
Anderson, despite being one of the smallest players on the floor all game, tied Battle's Maya Mouton for the game high with seven rebounds.
"She has a knack for finding the ball - she sees it and she goes and gets it," Conway said. "I tell the girls that everybody has got to pull their weight when we rebound. It's not going to be one person that will be our glass-cleaner, everybody has to pitch in."
Nicole Martin dropped in a game-high 19 points to pace Jefferson City (20-3), while Anderson and Foster had 12 apiece. Martin, Foster and Tayler LePage were honored prior to the game as the team's three seniors.
Jerrica Key led Battle (8-14) with 11 points.
Jefferson City returns to action Saturday at Springfield Parkview.