The Helias Lady Crusaders scored the first 12 points of the third quarter Saturday to turn a six-point lead into an 18-point bulge.
It turned out they almost needed all of them.
"We just need to learn to keep the foot on the pedal and put people away," Helias coach Alan Lepper said after the Lady Crusaders defeated the Hickman Kewpies 54-43 in the third-place game of the State Farm Holiday Hoops Invitational at Rackers Fieldhouse.
"It's been that way for years with us. It's like we feel safe and then we let teams get back in the game when we shouldn't."
Helias led 41-27 heading into the fourth quarter. Hickman then opened the final quarter on a 14-4 run to cut Helias' lead to 45-41 with 1:48 remaining.
"It's just some silly stuff that we do," Lepper said. "Time management, finding the shooters, making the defense come out and chase us as opposed to us taking what turns out to be a bad shot.
"It's just little things we need to work on."
The Lady Crusaders then scored seven unanswered points to push their advantage back to double digits at 52-41. Lindsey Byers started the run with a short jumper and ended it with a pair of free throws.
The sophomore finished with a team-high 17 points and was named to the all-tournament team.
"It was a good game for her, she bounced back from struggling a little bit Friday to play well in this one," Lepper said. "But that's what you expect from a good ballplayer."
Laney Lamb added 13 points for the Lady Crusaders.
"She's a gamer, her confidence was up a little bit," Lepper said.
Ellie Rockers also was named to the all-tournament team for the Lady Crusaders. She had just five points Saturday, but did a great job of defending Hickman's 6-foot-3 post player Emma Chapman, holding the Kansas State recruit to just four points through the first three quarters and a total of 10 in the game.
"She did a lot of little things you don't see in the scorebook," Lepper said. "Her job was to play good defense in this game and she did her job."
A steal and layup by Rylee Kolb in the final minute of the first quarter gave the Lady Crusaders a 15-10 lead. It was a back-and-forth second quarter as Helias took a 29-23 lead into intermission.
The Kewpies committed turnovers on five of their first six possessions of the second half. The Lady Crusaders took advantage and stretched their lead to 41-23.
Maci Kuchta totaled a game-high 22 points for Hickman and was selected to the all-tournament team.
It's the second straight Invitational the Lady Crusaders have defeated the Kewpies in the third-place game.
Helias (9-2), ranked No. 4 in Class 4 by the Missouri Basketball Coaches Association, is back in action Thursday at defending Class 3 state champion Strafford.