It was strikingly similar to their opener. The Helias Lady Crusaders fell into a hole they just couldn't quite climb out of.
The Camdenton Lady Lakers used a 5-0 run in the final :30 of the third quarter to take a seven-point lead and held on Tuesday night for a 55-52 victory against the Lady Crusaders at Rackers Fieldhouse.
"It feels like last Tuesday night," Helias coach Alan Lepper said, thinking back to a season-opening 47-44 loss to Blair Oaks. "We fell behind and couldn't come back.
"We just have a spurt where we become spectators and not ballplayers and we can't afford to do that at this level."
A layup by Kylie Meier with :30 left doubled Camdenton's lead to 44-40. The dagger came at the buzzer, when Shelby Kurtz swished a 3-pointer from 25 feet out to make it 47-40 with one quarter to play.
"That's basketball," Lepper said.
That seven-point advantage was Camdenton's biggest of the night. Helias battled back to tie the game at 49 on a long jumper by Morgan Yanskey and at 51 with 1:40 remaining on a layup by Taylor Koelling.
But after going 7-of-16 for the first 30-plus minutes at the free-throw line, Camdenton went 5-of-6 in the last 1:40 to seal the victory.
"We gave them too many chances, when you lose by three, that means it comes down to the little things," Lepper said.
Helias had its struggles at the line as well Tuesday night. The Lady Crusaders were in the 1-and-1 midway through the first quarter and got two shots at the line for much of the second quarter. But they couldn't take advantage.
Catherine Conley was 4-of-4 at the line in the first half, but her Helias teammates were a combined 2-of-10 as the Lady Crusaders trailed 31-27 at intermission.
"A staple of our offense is driving to the basket and drawing fouls," Lepper said. "If we're going to do that, we have to make them."
Helias finished 13-of-26 at the stripe. That is perplexing for Lepper, who said the team makes its free throws at practice.
"You have to transfer practice to the game floor and that's one thing we have to get better at," he said.
Helias also struggled with turnovers, committing 25.
"We can't afford to get trapped because that leads us to turning the ball over," Lepper said. "It's a little thing and when we get that corrected in the game, we're going to be better. That's way too many turnovers."
Meier finished with a game-high 19 points for Camdenton (1-0), while Kurtz totaled 15.
Erin Wyrick paced Helias with 12 points. Ellie Rockers had her second double-double in as many games for the Lady Crusaders, finishing with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
Helias (0-2) will host Boonville on Thursday. The JV game will start at 6 p.m. with the varsity contest to begin around 7:30 p.m.
In Tuesday night's JV game, Helias used a big second half to pull away to a 62-28 victory. Emily Harrison finished with 11 points to lead the Lady Crusaders.