Incarnate Word hands Jefferson City its first loss of season

Caitlin Anderson of the Lady Jays leaps to put up a layup as Kiki Britzmann of Incarnate Word defends during Wednesday night's game at Fleming Fieldhouse.
Caitlin Anderson of the Lady Jays leaps to put up a layup as Kiki Britzmann of Incarnate Word defends during Wednesday night's game at Fleming Fieldhouse.

It was time to run some time off the clock.

Up by eight points with 5:37 remaining Wednesday night, the Incarnate Word Academy Knights decided to hold the ball on the offensive end against the Jefferson City Lady Jays at Fleming Fieldhouse.

It turned out to be the winning strategy.

The Knights ran more than three minutes off the clock on their next two possessions on their way to a 52-42 victory against the Lady Jays.

"We've got two of our top kids sitting on the bench with four fouls," Incarnate Word coach Dan Rolfes said. "We needed to run some clock and hopefully buy some time and take care of the ball."

The Lady Jays were doing all they could not to send the Knights to the free-throw line, opting not to foul in hopes of getting a turnover.

"They shoot free throws very well, they've got four girls shooting 73 percent or better," Jefferson City coach Brad Conway said. "We wanted to take a few chances by getting into the passing lanes, cause some havoc, maybe get a deflection or a steal."

But the Knights ran two minutes off the clock in their first possession, capped by a pair of free throws by Marissa Warren when she was fouled on a drive to the basket.

Jefferson City came up empty on its next possession and Incarnate Word ran a minute off the clock before Warren converted two more free throws to push the Knights' lead to 12 at 45-33.

The closest Jefferson City could get the rest of the way was eight points.

"Maybe we could have done something different, but hindsight is 20/20," Conway said.

Incarnate Word missed just one shot attempt in the fourth quarter, going 4-of-5 from the field and 9-of-9 at the line.

"I was happy with the effort, this is the best team we've played all year," Conway said. "Incarnate Word has a great defense, but they have a very good offense to go with it."

Defense ruled in the first two quarters.

"We were a little sluggish in the first half, credit to them with putting pressure on us with tips and deflections," Rolfes said.

A 3-pointer by Ellie Vazzana in the final minute of the first quarter gave Incarnate Word an 11-8 lead. The Knights led by as many as seven points in the second quarter, that coming at 19-12.

But the Lady Jays allowed just one basket the rest of the half and cut the deficit to 21-17 at intermission.

One of the big reasons the Knights led at the half was their 3-point shooting. Incarnate Word went 5-of-8 on 3-pointers in the first half, while going 2-of-11 on 2s and 0-of-4 at the free-throw line.

"We didn't recognize where their 3-point shooters were at times," Conway said.

For Jefferson City, one of the pivotal parts of the game was the start of the second half as the decision was made to shift from a 2-3 zone to a man-to-man defense to start the third quarter.

"We just decided to roll the dice," Conway said.

It worked as the Knights went 0-for-3 from the field with four turnovers on their first seven possessions.

But the Lady Jays couldn't capitalize, only scoring five points during the stretch to take a 22-21 lead.

"We kept fighting and fighting to get the lead," Conway said.

The Lady Jays led 24-23 before the Knights went on a 10-3 run in a three-minute span to take the lead for good.

Incarnate Word held a 34-29 advantage going into the fourth quarter.

Warren, who has signed with DePaul, finished with a game-high 17 points for the Knights. Six of those came in the fourth quarter.

Kiki Britzmann, who has signed with Belmont, and Vazzana added 13 points each for Incarnate Word (22-2, ranked No. 2 in Class 4).

"Win or lose, it's a great game in preparation for what is the most important part of the season," Rolfes said. "We're both trying to fine-tune things and games like this can expose your weaknesses and show you what you still need to work on."

Anderson finished with 14 points to pace Jefferson City, which was 11-of-37 from the field.

"We played really, really hard," Conway said. "We made some tough shots, but we missed some easy ones. I think we missed six layups and we make half of those, we're right there.

"We need to do a better job around the basket."

Jefferson City (23-1, ranked No. 1 in Class 5) is back in action tonight at Hickman to close the regular season schedule.

"We don't have a couple of days to think about this one, we've got to get right back out there," Conway said. "We can't dwell on it, we have to get right back out there with the chance to start another one and then we start the postseason."

The JV game will start at 6 p.m., with the varsity contest to follow around 7:30 p.m.

Jefferson City is the No. 1 seed in the Class 5 District 8 Tournament starting next week at Troy.

In Wednesday's JV game, Incarnate Word defeated Jefferson City 51-33. Laurine Shoki had eight points for the Lady Jays.