The Jefferson City Lady Jays are ready to get back to work.
Jefferson City, ranked No. 1 in Class 5 by the Missouri Basketball Coaches Association, dropped their first game of the season Monday night, falling 45-35 to the Lebanon Lady Jackets at Fleming Fieldhouse.
"The pressure of being in this position, it could have been a weight on our shoulders," Jefferson City coach Brad Conway said. "Now, we've got that monkey off our back, we've got our first loss and it's time to get back to work.
"It's a long season."
Kelsey Winfrey seemingly willed Lebanon to the win. The senior, who orally committed two years ago to Missouri, finished with a game-high 23 points and a team-high seven rebounds.
"She put them on her shoulders, you could see she really wanted to win this game," Conway said.
Winfrey scored at least five points in every quarter Monday.
"She did what she needed to do," Conway said.
Jefferson City led 5-2 early before Lebanon closed the quarter on a 10-3 run to take a 12-8 lead.
A 3-pointer by Lexy Haug with 5:45 remaining in the half gave Jefferson City a 15-14 lead.
But that was the last lead of the night for the Lady Jays as Jefferson City had seven straight turnovers and did not get a shot the remainder of the half.
"Turnovers tell the story," Conway said. "We did not value our possessions. The turnovers got us."
Fortunately for Jefferson City, Lebanon didn't run away and hide. The Lady Jackets turned those turnovers into just seven points and took a 21-15 lead into halftime.
Jefferson City had 14 turnovers in the half on its way to 24 in the game.
"I think we had some kids who were a little hesitant to pull the trigger," Conway said.
That hesitancy also carried over to the defensive side as the Lady Jackets broke away for a handful of layups in transition Monday.
"Our half-court defense was still OK," Conway said. "But there were times they would get a rebound, we'd get caught standing around and they'd beat us down the floor for an easy shot in transition."
Lebanon's momentum carried over into the third quarter. The Lady Jackets opened the second half with a 9-2 run to take a 30-17 lead with 3:20 to go in the quarter.
Lebanon took a 33-23 advantage into the final period.
Up 35-27 with 6:45 remaining, Lebanon opted to run time off the clock. But after more than a minute expired, the Lady Jackets turned it over and a pair of free throws by Micah Linthacum pulled the Lady Jays to within six.
Lebanon turned it over again on its next trip and a putback by Caitlin Anderson made it 35-31 with 4:20 remaining.
The Lady Jays got to within two at 37-35 on a pair of Haug free throws with a little more than two minutes left.
"We fought back, I was proud of the way we gave ourselves a chance," Conway said.
But those were the final points of the game for the Lady Jays as the Lady Jackets (9-4) hit a layup and their final six free throws to ice the victory.
Haug finished with 15 points to pace the Lady Jays (13-1). Anderson totaled a game-high eight rebounds as Jefferson City finished with a 30-19 edge on the boards.
Jefferson City will host Sullivan on Thursday. The JV game will start at 5:30 p.m., followed by the varsity contest around 7 p.m.
Those two teams were scheduled to play last Saturday in the Union Tournament title game, which was called off due to weather. The reschedule date for that contest has not been finalized.
In Monday's JV game, Jefferson City defeated Lebanon 32-28. Morgan Jordan had nine points for the Lady Jays.