Down by 15 after one quarter, the Helias Lady Crusaders were going to need to piece together a scoring run to get back into the game.
The run never came.
The St. Joseph Benton Lady Cardinals led 21-6 after the first quarter Friday night on their way to a 43-29 win against Helias in the semifinals of the State Farm Holiday Hoops Invitational at Rackers Fieldhouse.
"This game is about intensity and there are times we have to go one step faster," Helias coach Alan Lepper said. "One step faster on offense, one step faster on defense.
"I think there are times we let the other team dictate the pace, we have to move quicker and that led to breakdowns that led to them getting some easy baskets."
Benton dominated the first quarter Friday night.
Offensively, the Lady Cardinals were 9-of-14 from the field, including a 5-of-7 performance on 3-pointers, and did not commit a turnover.
"For us to do what we want to do, we have to get our hands on the ball, get deflections and get down the floor," Lepper said.
On the other end, Helias was 0-of-5 from the field with five turnovers. The Lady Crusaders were 6-of-6 from the free-throw line.
"We have to do a better job attacking, we were nibbling on the edges too much," Lepper said. "We have to be strong with the basketball and go to the rim.
"If we don't do that against good teams, we're going to have nights like this."
Helias buckled down in the second quarter. Aided by five turnovers by the Lady Cardinals, the Lady Crusaders were able to cut the deficit to 10 at 24-14 at the half.
Benton outscored Helias 11-10 in the third quarter to lead 37-24. The Lady Crusaders got as close as 12 points in the fourth quarter.
"The kids are still learning their parts on both offense and defense and we have to continue to get better at that," Lepper said.
In the final three quarters, Helias' longest string of unanswered points was four.
Taylor Koelling paced the Lady Crusaders with 13 points. She was 3-of-4 from the field and 7-of-8 at the line.
"She had a heck of a ballgame," Lepper said. "She's buying in right now, she's playing so hard.
"She's a workhorse for us."
Bailey Russell finished with a game-high 15 points for Benton, 11 of which came in the first quarter. Jayde Williams added 11.
Benton (9-0, ranked No. 6 in Class 4) will face Jefferson City (11-0, No. 1 in Class 5) in the Invitational title game at 5:30 p.m. today. It's a rematch of last year's championship game, won 35-21 by the Lady Cardinals.
Helias (8-2, ranked No. 4 in Class 4), will face the Hickman Kewpies (4-6) in the third-place game today.
"We have to watch in the inside-outside stuff on them, they can be very good at that on offense," Lepper said. "We can't chase the ball, we need keep our hands up and force some lob passes as opposed to quick passes that can lead to easy baskets."
Game time is 4 p.m.