The Blair Oaks Lady Falcons are keeping Friday night's Jamboree in a proper perspective.
"We want to stay positive, we want to be better in February than we are in November," Blair Oaks coach Darren Heckman said after the Lady Falcons squared off against Jefferson City and Helias at Helias.
Blair Oaks opened with a 26-19 loss to Jefferson City in the Jamboree that featured three quarters of six minutes.
The Lady Falcons trailed 10-2 after the first quarter, 17-10 after two and 20-11 early in the third. But Blair Oaks rallied, with Kayla Jones and Halie Rackers sandwiching 3-pointers around a putback by Makenna Kliethermes to cut the deficit to one at 20-19 with 3:30 remaining.
But Jefferson City closed the scrimmage with a 6-0 run to get the win.
Blair Oaks closed the night against Helias, falling 29-16 to the Lady Crusaders.
Helias led 10-3 after the first quarter and 19-13 after two. Brooke Boessen and Abby Girard led the Lady Falcons with four points each against the Lady Crusaders.
"It was a little shaky, a little rough," Heckman said. "But it was good to play somebody else after practicing for three weeks.
"We know we still have a lot to work on in practice, but it was good to play somebody else."
This was the chance for the first-year coach to see his team in action.
"I was pleased with the effort and the attitude, they were fine," Heckman said. "It was just some things regarding execution and we can work those in practice."
Heckman would have liked the Lady Falcons to have a little more success on the scoreboard Friday night.
"You would rather win the game," he said. "But we came in with the idea of working on some things that we want to get done.
"But anytime you tip-off a game, you should want to win and it should bother you if you don't. But at the same time, it's still very early and there is time to get better. And we will get better."
The score will count Tuesday night when Blair Oaks and Helias will meet again to open the regular season at Rackers Fieldhouse. The JV game will start at 6 p.m., followed by the varsity contest around 7:30 p.m.
"We want to be back here Tuesday and play better," Heckman said.
It will be Coaches vs. Cancer Pink Out Night.