Looking at the bracket, the Jefferson City Lady Jays and St. Joseph Benton Lady Cardinals appeared to be on a collision course on their way to the State Farm Holiday Hoops Invitational title game.
There definitely were collisions Saturday night when the two met for the championship as the Lady Jays claimed the crown with a 35-27 decision in a defensive battle in front of a packed house at Rackers Fieldhouse.
"We knew this had to be the best defensive effort we could get," Jefferson City coach Brad Conway said. "We play good defense, but we needed to play our best defensive game of the season.
"The big thing we talked about during every timeout and at halftime was defense."
The tone of the game was set early as the first quarter ended with the Lady Cardinals holding a 5-4 lead. The teams combined to go 3-of-15 from the field in the first eight minutes.
Things didn't get much better in the second quarter as the two finished a combined 4-of-21 on their shot attempts as the Lady Jays took a 12-7 lead into intermission.
"We did a good job of executing on offense, it was a matter of shots not falling," Conway said. "And they were missing shots I've seen them hit in the past couple of days."
Jefferson City used its decided height edge at most positions to its full advantage.
"With our length, I thought we could give them problems," Conway said. "We have good athletes who can get out and guard even with their size."
The offenses started to come to life in the third quarter as the teams totaled 19 points. Jefferson City led 21-17 heading into the fourth quarter.
The Lady Jays scored six of the first eight points of the fourth quarter to take a 27-19 lead with 3:58 to play.
But the Lady Cardinals answered with an 8-0 spurt during the next 1:08 to tie it at 27.
"I knew they were very capable of coming back at us like that," Conway said.
A putback by Micah Linthacum with 2:35 remaining gave the Lady Jays the lead for good. Linthacum, who was named to the all-tournament team, finished with 13 points and five rebounds.
"We needed her to be a little more assertive out on the floor and we saw that in this game," Conway said. "That was a huge part of this win."
Two free throws by Hannah Nilges with :38.5 remaining pushed Jefferson City's lead to four.
Caitlin Anderson hit a pair of free throws with :11.1 remaining to give the Lady Jays some breathing room before Nilges made a layup at the buzzer to make the final 35-27.
"We knew this game would be a huge challenge and we needed a game like this, no matter what happened," Conway said. "The kids rose to the challenge."
Anderson was selected as the Invitational MVP. She finished with eight points and eight rebounds Saturday.
"She really dictated things on the defensive end while getting a lot of rebounds," Conway said. "That's huge for a point guard."
Kara Daly of Jefferson City also was selected to the all-tournament team. She had four points and 12 rebounds off the bench in the win.
Jayde Williams had 12 points to lead the Lady Cardinals (9-1, ranked No. 6 in Class 4). Mia Henderson and Bailey Russell were all-tournament selections for Benton.
This was the 14th straight Invitational appearance for Benton, now 5-2 in championship games.
It was Jefferson City's eighth holiday tournament championship, the most of any program.
Jefferson City, ranked No. 1 in Class 5, is now 12-0 this season.
"The seniors really, really wanted this win," Conway said. "This is a big tournament for us and it was great to win it in front of a great crowd."
The Lady Jays are back in action Friday at Waynesville.