EUGENE, Mo. - Trailing by one point with 16 seconds play, Blair Oaks coach Kevin Kohler drew up the final play for the Lady Falcons.
They executed it to perfection, getting a 3-pointer from Sarah Wolken to take the lead. Unfortunately, there was still enough time for the Steelville Lady Cardinals to answer.
Steelville drove the length of the court with less than nine seconds to go and Emma Schneider drained a 3 from the left wing at the buzzer, giving the Lady Cardinals a 46-45 win Saturday in the third-place game of the Eugene Tournament.
"When you lose on a last-second shot, there's usually a lot of 'ifs,'" Kohler said. "We left somebody open and they got off a clean shot, and they won."
Blair Oaks held a 42-34 lead with 1:57 to play when Steelville began to make a late charge. The Lady Cardinals began to implement their full-court press, which forced three turnovers near the half-court line in the final few minutes.
"We didn't take care of the ball," Kohler said. "We're not necessarily a turnover team, but we were tonight under pressure. We've got to learn to take care of the basketball in crunch time."
Two of those turnovers led to transition baskets by Hannah Cottrell, who scored a game-high 26 points for Steelville. She grabbed a steal off the press and cruised in for a layup with 21 seconds left to give Steelville a 43-42 lead, scoring nine consecutive points.
"We had an opportunity, and there were times when we didn't take advantage of it," Kohler said. "We've got to learn to protect our lead when we've got a nice lead like that."
Steelville, using a rotation of six players for most of the game, went with a 1-3-1 zone defense for a good portion of the contest. But when Blair Oaks got the ball inside the zone, the Lady Falcons didn't waste their chance to score.
"We were trying to get it inside, because they didn't have a good answer for us," Kohler said.
Forward Brooke Boessen came off the bench and scored a game-high 21 points for Blair Oaks, shooting 8-of-11 from the field. She scored six straight points in the first quarter to give the Lady Falcons an 8-5 lead after eight minutes.
Boessen also converted a pair of 3-point plays, with the second extending the Blair Oaks lead to 28-16 - their biggest of the game - with 4:29 to play in the third quarter.
"Brooke's a very strong player," Kohler said. "She started last year as a freshman some and she'll start games this year too. Brooke's a good player, a good solid, strong girl."
Blair Oaks shot nearly 50 percent from the floor - 18-of-40 - but the Lady Falcons committed 19 turnovers, compared to just 11 for the Lady Cardinals. Steelville (3-1) only had two turnovers after halftime.
Sydney Wilde made a pair of 3-pointers to finish with six points and Claire Heckman also had six points for the Lady Falcons. Makenna Kliethermes and Kellie Fredenhall each grabbed a team-high eight rebounds.
Blair Oaks (1-3) will play Tuesday at Fulton.