There were some ups and some downs Friday night in the home basketball Jamboree for the Helias Lady Crusaders.
Not that it was a surprise.
"I figured this was where we were going to be," Helias coach Alan Lepper said. "Not to make any excuses, but we've only had the girls in fall sports out for three or four practices, so things might look a little rough. There are some fundamental things we're going to have to fix, we know that.
"Our timing is off, we're just not seeing the things we should be seeing. But that should come along."
That starts with the offensive side of the ball.
"Our defense at times looked pretty good, our offense struggled and there are things we're going to have to work on back in practice," Lepper said. "It seems like a lot of the time we are waiting around for someone else to make the play We have to want to make the play."
Helias struggled on the offensive end in its 18-11 loss to Jefferson City in the first of two scrimmages consisting of three six-minute quarters.
Jefferson City led 9-1 after the first quarter and 16-7 after two. The Lady Crusaders forced 13 Lady Jay turnovers, but turned the ball over 10 times themselves.
Catherine Conley, Trevor Koelling and Ellie Rockers all had three points each for Helias.
The Lady Crusaders closed the night with a 29-16 victory against the Blair Oaks Lady Falcons.
Helias closed the first quarter with a 5-0 run to take a 10-3 lead. The Lady Crusaders led 19-13 after two quarters before closing the exhibition on an 8-0 run.
Conley had six points to pace the Lady Crusaders.
A 1-1 finish Friday was secondary to the overall picture of just getting back out on the floor against competition.
"It's a game, people want to win," Lepper said. "But I was looking for things like what groups can work well together so we can make some adjustments off of that.
"We know that will change all season long, but we're looking for the right combinations to get us off to a good start to the season."
Twelve Lady Crusaders, including five sophomores, saw action Friday night.
"I'm hoping we can stretch our bench a lot more than we could last year and I think there are kids that are showing me they can give us a few minutes here and there," Lepper said.
Helias and Blair Oaks will meet again Tuesday at Rackers Fieldhouse to open the regular season.
"We didn't show a whole lot and I'm sure they didn't show us a whole lot either," Lepper said. "Tuesday night is the one that counts."
The JV game will start at 6 p.m., followed by the varsity contest around 7:30 p.m.