The Helias Lady Crusaders are seeing glimpses of what kind of team they could be.
"We had our moments," Lady Crusaders coach Alan Lepper said Wednesday after Helias dropped a 47-31 decision to the St. Joseph Benton Cardinals in the opening round of the State Farm Holiday Hoops Invitational at Rackers Fieldhouse.
"We did a much better job on both sides of the ball, now it's a matter of doing those things for longer periods than we have been."
Helias could not overcome an early deficit Wednesday. After scoring the game's first point, Helias saw Benton rattle off the next 13 as the Cardinals took a 13-4 lead after one quarter.
The two teams then traded points in the second quarter as Benton took a 25-16 lead into intermission. After Benton hit the first basket of the third quarter, Helias never got to within double-digits the remainder of the game.
"It's little things that are keeping us from winning," Lepper said. "I don't think we're that far from it, I think if we had played this way in some other games, we'd have a few more wins."
One of those things is the overall offense. Only five Lady Crusaders scored in Wednesday's game.
"It seems like a lot of the girls are waiting for somebody else to do it," Lepper said. "As a coach, I have to instill in them the trust in the process, trust in their teammates, trust in what we do."
Helias had just seven field goals in the game.
"That's our Achilles heel right now," Lepper said. "I like the fact we're driving to the basket more, but we need to get to the point where we are drawing contact or pulling up for a short jumper.
"That's one thing we can get better at."
Ellie Rockers finished with a double-double for the Lady Crusaders, totaling 15 points and 10 rebounds.
The Lady Crusaders were without senior Ashley Rehagen, who sat out Wednesday with an injury.
"There's 8-12 points we were missing," Lepper said. "We only had one practice without her to adjust.
"You lose that calmness, that presence she has on the court."
Morgan Yanskey provided a spark off the bench for Helias, scoring five points while pulling down five rebounds.
"She's going to be fighting for a lot more playing time," Lepper said.
Mia Henderson led a balanced Benton attack with 10 points. Tamia Stillman came off the bench to add nine points as nine Lady Cardinals scored in the contest. Kennady Ruffcorn paced Benton with nine rebounds.
Helias (1-7) is back in action at 4 p.m. today against Alton, Ill.
"I don't think we're tired, we'll be ready to play," Lepper said. "Alton will play hard and go to the rim a lot. They will beat you to a lot of 50/50 balls because you know they are going to hustle."
Alton dropped a 69-16 decision to Hickman in its first-round game Wednesday. Hickman scored the first 21 points of the contest.
Benton (6-2) will take on Hickman (8-0) in the semifinals at 7 p.m. today.
Benton and Hickman have split their meetings in the last two Invitational title games. Benton won last year 50-40, while Hickman took a 65-59 decision in 2014.