It's always nice to win on Senior Night.
And while it won't be known for a little more than a week, Wednesday night's victory may pay postseason dividends as well for the Helias Lady Crusaders.
"I would think," Helias coach Alan Lepper said after the Lady Crusaders defeated the School of the Osage Lady Indians 48-39 at Rackers Fieldhouse. "You never know, but I think this may have gotten us one of the top two seeds in districts."
The Class 4 District 9 Tournament has several teams that could claim high seeds. Boonville (18-2), the district host, is ranked No. 3 in the state. Osage (17-3), which had a 12-game winning streak snapped Wednesday, is ranked No. 9. Marshall, which is unranked, is 18-1.
While Helias doesn't have the most gaudy record at 13-6, Lepper points to strength of schedule as a factor.
"I believe when you look at who we've played, that should count for something," he said.
With a lot potentially on the line Wednesday night, Helias came up big.
"That may have been our best all-around effort in the last month," Lepper said.
Osage got off to a good start as a 3-pointer by Sara Wolf gave the Lady Indians a 9-5 lead with 1:35 remaining in the first quarter. But Helias closed the quarter on a 6-0 run, with Lindsey Byers sandwiching baskets around a layup by Ellie Rockers.
The two teams traded points for much of the second quarter, which closed with a Byers layup with :02 remaining to give the Lady Crusaders a 25-20 lead at the half.
"We valued the ball, we were patient, but still ready to attack when something was given to us," Lepper said. "We got some good looks."
The Lady Crusaders were plagued by fouls in the third quarter, getting whistled for seven.
"We got a little lackadaisical, we weren't using our feet to play defense as much as we did in the first half," Lepper said. "It caught up with us."
Helias, which led by as many as seven points in the third quarter, saw that cut to two when a putback by Osage's Kerrigan Gamm in the final minute trimmed the Lady Crusaders' advantage to 36-34 with eight minutes remaining.
Carson Wood of Osage tied the game at 36 with a pair of free throws early in the fourth quarter. It was the third and final time the game was tied after the first quarter.
Helias took the lead for good on a layup by Taylor Koelling with 6:15 remaining.
"Taylor had a huge game," Lepper said.
Koelling's basket sparked a 7-0 run for the Lady Crusaders, capped by a 3-pointer by Byers with five minutes to play.
"We kept telling the girls not to have a three-minute or so span where we just don't play very well," Lepper said. "We weathered the storms when they made some runs at us, but we weren't going to let them get ahead of us."
Osage never got closer than five points the rest of the way. The nine-point final margin was the biggest of the game for Helias.
"This was a total team effort, everybody contributed," Lepper said.
Wood and Gamm had 15 points each to lead the Lady Indians.
"Osage is so well-coached, they always do things right," Lepper said. "But tonight, we did, too."
Byers finished with a game-high 16 points to pace Helias. Rockers added 11 while pulling down nine rebounds.
"The girls were all focused and played hard," Lepper said. "It's not all about putting the ball in the basket, sometimes it's the little things that don't show up in the scorebook that can help you win and I think that's what happened with some of the players tonight."
Helias' four seniors - Catherine Conley, Meagan Engelbrecht, Koelling and Rockers - were honored before the game.
"It's a great group that has battled for four years," Lepper said. "They really brought the whole program together, the younger kids love all four of them.
"You can tell all four of them are going to be successful in life."
Helias is back in action Saturday at Hickman. The varsity game will start at 1 p.m., with the JV game to follow.
In Wednesday's JV game, Helias defeated Osage 41-31. Lani Andrews had 12 points for the Lady Crusaders, while Madisyn Hood added 10.