The Blue Springs Lady Jaguars had the momentum.
The Lady Jaguars scored a pair of late baskets to send Saturday's fifth-place game against the Blair Oaks Lady Falcons in the State Farm Holiday Hoops Invitational to overtime.
But overtime was Blair Oaks' time.
"It was important for us to score first in overtime," Blair Oaks coach Darren Heckman said after the Lady Falcons' 57-51 win against the Lady Jaguars at Rackers Fieldhouse. "We needed to get that momentum back on our side."
Blair Oaks led 47-43 with less than :30 remaining in regulation when a layup by Seneea Bevley cut that advantage to two. Bevley then got a quick steal and another layup to tie the game at 47 and send it to overtime.
"It happened so fast, I think we were a little shell-shocked," Heckman said. "But we had a minute to regroup.
"It was just starting the game over. We talk a lot about playing in four-minute segments anyway and that's how we approached overtime."
A 3-pointer by Claire Heckman in the opening minute of overtime gave the Lady Falcons the lead for good. Makenna Kliethermes then made it 52-47 with 1:20 remaining on a layup.
Bailey Rissmiller hit three straight free throws in the final minute for the Lady Falcons, who led 55-49 with :32.5 to play. Brooke Boessen capped the scoring for Blair Oaks with a bucket a couple of seconds later.
The basket capped a great game for Boessen, who was selected to the all-tournament team. The senior finished with 22 points, going 7-of-10 from the field and 8-of-8 at the line. She also had nine rebounds.
"She really came to play," Darren Heckman said. "She wills herself to find the ball sometimes."
Rissmiller joined Boessen on the all-tournament team. She had 18 points Saturday.
"We put a lot on her and she stays aggressive and does a good job of breaking teams down," Heckman said.
Blue Springs South led by as many as eight points in the first quarter before a 3-pointer by Kayla Jones at the buzzer cut Blair Oaks' deficit to 16-11.
The Lady Falcons took the lead with a 6-0 run to start the second quarter. But the Lady Jaguars answered with a 6-0 run of its own on its way to a 26-23 lead at the half.
Blair Oaks got off to another quick start in the third quarter, scoring seven of the first nine points to take a 30-28 lead. The two teams swapped points the rest of the quarter, with Blue Springs South taking a 34-33 lead into the fourth quarter.
The Lady Falcons scored the first seven points of the fourth quarter to take a 40-34 advantage. The Lady Jaguars then whittled away at the deficit before sending the game to overtime.
Bevely came off the bench to score 20 points for the Lady Jaguars and earn a spot on the all-tournament team.
Blair Oaks finished 2-1 in its first appearance in the Invitational.
"We wanted to represent ourselves well in this tournament," Heckman said. "This is a tough three days, we're playing against much bigger schools.
"As a program, it was great to win two games here."
Blair Oaks (9-3) is off until starting play in the Fatima Tournament on Jan. 7.