It was a fourth quarter to forget.
Luckily for the Jefferson City Lady Jays, they did enough during the first three quarters to secure a 47-44 win against the Salem Lady Tigers on Tuesday at Fleming Fieldhouse.
After shooting 54 percent from the floor in the first half, the Lady Jays shot 0-of-13 in the fourth quarter.
"We talk about stepping up and knocking down shots," Lady Jays coach Brad Conway said. "Unfortunately, that didn't happen tonight and we were barely able to hang on."
Jefferson City, which snapped a two-game losing streak with Tuesday's win, led 45-32 heading into the fourth quarter. As the number of missed shots began to pile up for the Lady Jays, Salem slowly began to chip away at the lead.
"How many shots did we miss four feet in? We were just rushing and throwing the ball up instead of going up strong," Conway said. "We missed some wide open 8-footers and 10-footers. We've got to start knocking those down."
Payton Curley, who posted a game-high 25 points for the Lady Tigers, scored seven straight points, including a 3-pointer with 2:22 to play to cut the lead to 45-43.
"We knew (Curley) was going to try to take it over," Conway said. "She's their slasher, she's their point guard."
Kari Hatridge made 1-of-2 free throws with 1:07 left to make it a 1-point game.
The Lady Jays held the ball until Conway called a timeout with :42 left. He reminded his players Salem still had three fouls to give until the Lady Jays were in the bonus and to not rush for a shot.
"It was to reiterate what was going on and make sure we stayed under control," Conway said.
Caitlin Anderson was fouled with :19.7 left to put Jefferson City in the bonus. Anderson made the front end of the one-and-one, then added the second free throw to push the lead to 47-44.
The free throws were the Lady Jays' first points since Anderson scored an easy layup off a steal in the closing seconds of the third quarter. She finished with 10 points.
Hatridge missed a 3-point attempt from the left wing with :08 left and the Lady Jays grabbed the rebound, holding the ball until time expired.
"Fortunately, the ball bounced our way and it was nice to get a win," Conway said.
The Lady Jays scored eight straight points after coming up empty on their first three possessions of the game. Micah Linthacum came off the bench and scored a team-high 12 points - all in the first half - by making six of her first eight shots.
"Micah had a nice first half for us," Conway said.
Jefferson City led 17-13 after Sydney Crockett was fouled at the buzzer and made a pair of free throws to end the first quarter.
Midway through the second quarter, Greta Haarmann knocked down a 3 from the left wing and Crockett scored a layup off a steal to put the Lady Jays ahead by double digits at 27-16.
Jefferson City shot 7-of-12 from the field in the second quarter, stretching its halftime lead to 34-21.
"Offensively, in spurts, we did some really good things. Then in the fourth quarter, we went away from those things," Conway said.
The Lady Jays used a 6-0 run in the third quarter to grab their biggest lead of the game at 42-28 with 2:34 to play in the quarter.
McKenzie Gourley added eight points for the Lady Jays and Crockett finished with seven, going 5-of-6 at the free-throw line.
Baylee Bilyeu, a 6-foot-3 junior, added nine points for Salem (16-7), which had its five-game win streak snapped with Tuesday's loss.
Jefferson City (18-3) will play Thursday at Battle. The Lady Jays drew the No. 1 seed in the Class 5 District 8 Tournament, while the Spartans received the No. 2 seed.
The tournament will begin Feb. 27 at Fleming Fieldhouse, with the Lady Jays facing fourth-seeded Troy Buchanan in the semifinals.
"Here in the last week, it's just been a completely different team than what we've seen for 31/2 months," Conway said. "Hopefully we can get our heads cleared and get refocused."
In the JV game, Jefferson City won 34-24 to improve to 9-6. Marshi Baird led the Lady Jays with 14 points.