It took some time for the Jefferson City Lady Jays to shake off the rust Thursday night.
Eight minutes, to be exact.
After having not played a game in a week, the Lady Jays held a 10-9 lead after one quarter in their Capital City Shootout contest against the Rockwood Summit Lady Falcons at Fleming Fieldhouse.
"We talked about coming out with some energy, but we ended up standing around," Lady Jays coach Brad Conway said. "They started playing well and we were on our heels a little bit defensively."
But then the second quarter started. And the outcome was effectively decided.
The Lady Jays opened the quarter on a 14-0 run, holding the Lady Falcons off the scoreboard for more than 61/2 minutes as Jefferson City went on to a 51-28 victory.
"We started turning it up a little bit," Conway said. "Once we got running, got the blood flowing, we got into a good rhythm."
The Lady Falcons came out in a zone defense to start the second quarter. That helped turn the tide in favor of the Lady Jays.
"They hit some shots, they got some second chances because we weren't rebounding very well out of it," Summit coach Dustin Hays said.
Jefferson City was 7-of-16 from the field in the quarter.
"We got some good looks, shots started falling," Conway said.
On the other side, Summit was 1-of-7 with eight turnovers.
"I think we're a pretty good team, but we just struggled offensively," Hays, the former Fatima head coach who is in his second year at Summit, said. "That's the key, we just need to put the girls in better positions to make shots.
"We tend to put one or two quarters together, but we need to put four together, especially against competition like this."
Caitlin Anderson totaled 13 points in the first half for Jefferson City.
"Anderson is very talented," Hays said. "She went off on us a little bit."
Anderson, a sophomore guard who was selected the MVP of the Shootout game, finished with team highs of 21 points and eight rebounds to go along with a handful of spectacular assists.
"Caitlin has really matured," Conway said. "She got thrown in to the fire last year, she did a nice job. But she made some freshman mistakes and she's not making those anymore."
Jefferson City led 42-18 after three quarters and by as many as 29 points in the fourth.
"We got contributions from a lot of players on both ends of the floor," Conway said.
Rockwood Summit (2-6), led in scoring Thursday by Natalie Needy's 11 points, starts three seniors and two freshmen.
"The girls have not grown up playing together and we're still trying to gel," Hays said. "You can tell, there are times where we are disjointed.
"Things will come together when we get used to playing together. We're trying to build something and that happens during the season."
The Lady Jays (8-0, ranked No. 4 in Class 5) will play in the State Farm Holiday Hoops Invitational next week at Rackers Fieldhouse. Jefferson City will open the three-day event against Eureka at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday.