With the Jefferson City Lady Jays and the Cardinal Ritter Lions locked in an extremely low-scoring game, you had the feeling one or two shots might make the difference.
It did, and the Lady Lions made their big one while the Lady Jays missed theirs.
Cardinal Ritter got a huge late 3-pointer from Ryann Haynes to take the lead for good with 1:35 left, while Jefferson City came up just short on a 3 that would have won it as time expired.
Haynes' 3 gave the Lady Lions only their third lead of the entire game, as they led for just 3 minutes and 18 seconds of the 32-minute contest.
Jefferson City coach Brad Conway said the defensive slugfest Saturday in the Capital City Shootout at Fleming Fieldhouse gives the Lady Jays something to focus on going forward.
"Like I told the girls, holding those guys to 37 points when they were averaging about 60 means we did a pretty solid job defensively," he said. " Something we've worked on the last five days is being in better help position. For the most part, we did a pretty good job keeping those guys in front of us."
The Lady Jays' offense looked pretty sharp early, as they scored the game's first nine points on a pair of 3s by Greta Haarmann, a layup by Tori LePage and a free throw by Sarah Linthacum.
But Cardinal Ritter started to get things going, responding with a 13-2 spurt bridging the end of the first quarter and the start of the second.
The Lady Jays recovered to take a 17-16 lead into the locker room at halftime, but five of their 11 turnovers in the game came in that period and allowed the Lady Lions to get some momentum.
"Turnover-wise, I thought we did OK except in the second quarter," Conway said. "We had five turnovers that didn't necessarily kill us, but we didn't have an opportunity to get a shot off and maybe add to the lead."
The Lady Jays pushed the lead back to four points twice in the third quarter, including as it ended, taking a 27-23 edge to the final eight minutes.
They matched that lead twice in the final period - at 34-30 on a 3 by LePage with 4:29 left and at 36-32 on a layup by Caitlin Anderson with 3:56 remaining - but Jefferson City came up empty on its final six possessions of the game to fall just short.
"We didn't shoot the ball very well tonight," Conway said. "We had some kids step up and knock down some shots, but couldn't consistently knock things down.
"Throughout the course of the game, we had some really, really good looks, but we didn't have shots fall and we missed some free throws throughout the course of the game that might have extended the lead."
Three of those missed free throws came in the final 31/2 minutes, including a pair with :21.8 remaining. Jefferson City was just 7-of-14 from the charity stripe for the game, while Cardinal Ritter was even worse at 4-of-11.
"I thought our effort was pretty good tonight," Conway said. "If you would have told me we were going to hold these guys to 37 points, I wouldn't have believed it."
Cardinal Ritter's DeAnna Wilson led all players with 12 points and 12 rebounds. Haynes ended up with 11 points for the Lady Lions (5-0).
Haarmann was the only Lady Jay to score in double figures, as she dropped in 11. Linthacum added a team-high nine rebounds.
The Lady Jays (4-4) are off until opening the State Farm Holiday Hoops Invitational against Quincy (Ill.) at 2:30 p.m. on Dec. 28 at Rackers Fieldhouse. Conway said Cardinal Ritter was a good opponent to prepare Jefferson City for the Invitational.
"We knew they like to get up and really guard you, they like to get out in transition, and we knew they'd be one of the quicker, more athletic teams we'd play until it gets deep in the postseason. For the most part, we held our own.
"It's something to build on. We've got five days of practice to work on some things, to get our timing down offensively and continue to get better defensively. We did see some things that didn't kill us but that we need to shore up."