SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - It was a bad night to have a bad night.
"One thing I was dreading is we haven't had a game this season where we hadn't shot the ball well," Jefferson City coach Brad Conway said after the Lady Jays dropped a 43-34 decision to the North Kansas City Hornets in the Class 5 state championship game Saturday night at JQH Arena. "It just so happened we had a bad night to have a bad shooting night."
The 34 points were a season-low for Jefferson City.
"We had some good looks, the ball just went in and out," Conway said. "It was one of those nights where they shot it well and we dug ourselves a hole."
Jefferson City had gotten off to great starts in its first three postseason games. But that script got flipped Saturday night.
The Hornets jumped out to a 15-1 lead with a little more than a minute remaining in the first quarter.
"Our girls came out with some grit tonight," North Kansas City coach Jeffery Lacy said. "The girls came into the game knowing they could win this game and that was big because Jeff City had an aura about them this season."
Greta Haarmann hit Jefferson City's first field goal with :43 remaining in the first quarter, which closed with North Kansas City holding a 15-4 advantage.
North Kansas City senior Chandler Prater hit three 3-pointers in the first quarter.
"I've never done that before," she said. "I felt relaxed. If I'm feeling it and the defense is giving it to me, I'm going to take it."
With 3:38 remaining in the first quarter, Jefferson City starting point guard Caitlin Anderson was called for her second foul and went to the bench.
"In my 29 years as a coach, I've always said that if you get two fouls, you're going to sit," Conway said. "I felt like she was being a little too aggressive at times, really amped up.
"Woulda, shoulda, coulda. We were still getting good looks and I thought if we could cut into it a little bit but it didn't happen."
Jefferson City got as close as five points in the second quarter, that coming with 1:32 left after a 3 by Hannah Nilges made it 21-16.
But North Kansas City closed the half on a 5-0 run to take a 26-16 lead into intermission.
The Lady Jays were 6-of-20 from the field in the first two quarters, while the Hornets were 10-of-25.
Jefferson City managed just six points in the third quarter as North Kansas City took a 35-22 lead into the final eight minutes of the season.
"Shots that were falling for four months weren't falling," Conway said.
The Lady Jays got as close as seven in the fourth quarter when a jumper by Anderson with :15 remaining made it 41-34.
Prater scored a game-high 23 points for North Kansas City (29-2), which won its first state championship.
Anderson led Jefferson City (29-2) with 10 points.
It was the final game for Jefferson City's four seniors: Anderson, Haarmann, Micah Linthacum and Chloe Helming.
"I'm super proud of the team and everything we did this season," Linthacum said. "I'd still put us up against anyone in the state.
"We just didn't have the ending we wanted."