The Helias Lady Crusaders scored the first basket of the fourth quarter Tuesday night to take an 18-point lead against the Gateway Lady Jaguars.
The Lady Crusaders scored the last points of the fourth quarter to seal what turned out to be a surprisingly close 53-50 Helias victory.
A lot of stuff happened in those final eight minutes at Rackers Fieldhouse.
"We need to learn to play from buzzer to buzzer," Helias coach Alan Lepper said.
Helias led 43-25 just :20 into the fourth quarter. Gateway then turned up the defensive pressure to spark a 10-2 run in less than two minutes to cut Helias' lead to 10.
A layup by Ellie Rockers gave Helias a seemingly comfortable 51-41 advantage with 2:08 remaining. But Gateway didn't quit and a putback by Marshaun Bostic with :20 remaining cut Helias' lead to 51-50.
Helias missed the front end of a 1-and-1 on its next possession and Gateway pulled down the rebound. The Lady Jaguars missed a shot to potentially take the lead and a jump ball was called on the rebound. The possession arrow favored the Lady Crusaders, who got the ball back with :07 left.
The Lady Crusaders inbounded the ball to Kylie Bernskoetter, who dribbled in the backcourt before finally getting fouled by the Lady Jaguars after nearly five seconds had run off the clock.
"Anybody in the game at that point, we were confident with anybody on the floor going to the line," Lepper said. "I was good with any of them."
Bernskoetter hit both of the free-throw attempts to make it 53-50. The Lady Jaguars threw up a prayer at the buzzer from halfcourt that went unanswered as the Lady Crusaders held on for the victory.
Gateway had 20 shot attempts in the fourth quarter to eight for Helias.
Helias expected to see the fourth-quarter pressure from Gateway from the start of the game.
"I really thought they were going to come out in a half-court press," Lepper said. "We were geared up for it."
Helias had just four turnovers through the first three quarters before committing five in the fourth.
"We were exceptional in taking care of the ball through the first three quarters," Lepper said. "But then it was like we hit a wall."
On the other end, Helias was constantly getting a hand on Gateway passes for steals or deflections.
"The girls really bought into the fact we had to play really good defense tonight," Lepper said.
Gateway had nine turnovers in the first quarter, which closed with Helias holding a 14-7 lead. The Lady Jaguars had five more in the second quarter as Helias took a 27-18 advantage into halftime.
Bostic finished with 18 points, 10 in the fourth quarter, to lead Gateway (15-9). Keirra Cotton came off the bench to added 13 points, 10 coming in the fourth as well. Kinnuady Daniels paced the Lady Jaguars with 11 rebounds.
Lindsey Byers finished with a game-high 23 points for Helias. Rockers added 13 points, while Taylor Koelling pulled down a team-high seven rebounds.
There was no JV game Monday.
Helias (12-6) is back in action today when it hosts School of the Osage (17-2, ranked No. 10 in Class 4) on Senior Night.
"This will be a big game for us," Lepper said. "It's one of the biggest of the year because it's a district opponent and it looks like the winner will wrap up one of the top two seeds."
Action will begin with a two-quarter freshman game at 5 p.m., followed by the JV game. The varsity game should start around 7:15 p.m.