Playing the first few minutes of their opener in the State Farm Holiday Hoops Invitational in the unusual start time of 2:30 p.m., it appeared the Jefferson City Lady Jays got caught a little off-guard.
It was the only time the Lady Jays would struggle on offense in the first half.
Jefferson City fell behind Eureka 5-0 in the first two minutes, then surged back to lead 21-7 after one quarter and 36-18 by halftime. The Lady Jays used that hot half to cruise to a 60-38 win at Rackers Fieldhouse.
"That was our key, to get out in front," Jefferson City coach Brad Conway said. "Our energy was pretty good, then we got a little lackadaisical and got in foul trouble and had to deal with some adversity."
The second-half adversity didn't cause a whole lot of trouble, just like the game-opening hiccup. In fact, the early deficit merely seemed to jump-start the Jefferson City shooters, as Lexy Haug, Alaina Allsbury and Caitlin Anderson all drilled 3-pointers in the first quarter to start the comeback.
Haug scored nine of her game-high 19 points in the opening frame, hitting 4-of-6 shots in the period.
The Lady Jays then outscored the Lady Wildcats 15-11 in the second quarter to double-up Eureka at the break. It could have been worse for Eureka if not for some help at the free-throw line. The Lady Wildcats made just 4-of-14 shots from the floor (29 percent) in the opening half, but connected on 10-of-13 free throws (77 percent) to stay close.
The Lady Jays were a hot 15-of-26 (58 percent) from the field in the opening half, but it was a different story at the other basket to start the second half. Jefferson City made just 1-of-7 shots in the third quarter and saw its lead dwindle to 40-29.
Much of that was due, however, to missing some key parts of the offense. Anderson, the team's point guard, missed much of the quarter after picking up her third foul late in the first half. And McKenzie Gourley left less than two minutes into the third quarter after suffering an ankle injury on a collision near the Eureka basket.
"The third quarter, we were kind of standing around, kind of lethargic," Conway said.
There was a simple remedy for the Lady Jays' ills.
"There were a few times in the second half where we took some quick shots," Conway said. "I told them, 'We've got to get back to what we were doing in the first half. Take what they're giving us, and make them work a little bit on defense. We want to execute our stuff.' Then we knocked down some shots."
Jefferson City got rolling again in the fourth quarter behind Anderson, who came back in and scored eight of her 13 points in the stanza.
"Caitlin got back in there and got us rejuvenated and got us back in our press," Conway said. "She does a lot of good things. I expect that out of her."
Joining Haug and Anderson in double figures was Greta Haarmann, who made 4-of-7 shots and scored 10 points.
"It was nice having Greta Haarmann - that was her first game back from a broekn foot," Conway said. "She stepped in and knocked down some shots. She was a little rusty, but was able to step in when Gourley went down."
Gourley appears to be day-to-day after bouncing back well from the injury.
"She was walking around on it in the locker room - we'll reevaluate it (this) morning," Conway said.
Jefferson City forced 25 Eureka turnovers in the win and allowed just one Lady Wildcat to reach double figures, as Grace Archambault had 16 points.
"We've played one game in 14 days, so we were still a little rusty at times," Conway said. "But overall, I saw a lot of good things."
Jefferson City (9-0) will play Blue Springs South at 5:30 p.m. today in a winner's bracket semifinal.