Helias girls top Benton to take third in Classic

The Helias Lady Crusaders shoot layups before the start of Friday's third-place game against St. Joseph Benton in the Jefferson Bank Holiday Hoops Classic at Capital City High School. (Tom Rackers/News Tribune)
The Helias Lady Crusaders shoot layups before the start of Friday's third-place game against St. Joseph Benton in the Jefferson Bank Holiday Hoops Classic at Capital City High School. (Tom Rackers/News Tribune)

The Helias Lady Crusaders needed a spark.

While the Lady Crusader defense was strong Friday in the Jefferson Bank Holiday Hoops Classic third-place game, the Helias offense couldn’t get much traction against the St. Joseph Benton Lady Cardinals.

Points were hard to come by as the Lady Crusaders trailed 34-30 with a little less than six minutes remaining. But then things changed in an instant.

Ava Morris hit a 3-pointer to pull Helias to within one. The Helias fans erupted, the Lady Crusader bench erupted.

It wasn’t the game-winner, but it was the game-changer as Helias went on to defeat Benton 53-49 in overtime at Capital City High School.

“That’s Ava’s first legit 3 this year,” Helias coach Garrett Wiggans said.

Legit?

“Not a half-court shot, like she hit earlier this season,” Wiggans said.

The Lady Crusaders have been waiting for Morris to hit one in a game.

“She stays after practice every day with coach (Chris) Wyrick, shooting 3s,” Wiggans said. “Coach Wyrick told her the other day he wasn’t going to do that anymore if she wasn’t going to at least attempt one in a game. It’s not a big part of her game, but she can do it and I think that’s why the girls got so excited when Ava made it.”

Adalyn Koelling followed a minute later with a 3-pointer of her own to give Helias its first lead since early in the second quarter at 38-36, then made a pair of free throws to extend it to 40-36.

Mikah Edwards converted a layup with 1:55 to go to give Helias a 42-39 lead, but Kelsey Johnson of Benton hit a 3-pointer to tie it after the Lady Cardinals grabbed a pair of offensive rebounds to keep the possession alive in the final minute.

“We’ve done a good job rebounding this year up until this tournament,” Wiggans said. “We need to pull down the first one and not let teams get second and third opportunities against us.”

Helias had a chance to win it at the buzzer, but a shot was off the mark and the game went to overtime tied at 42.

The Lady Crusaders never trailed in the extra period, leading by as many as seven at 51-44 after a basket by Claire Galbraith.

“It was nice to win this one,” Wiggans said.

Helias scored seven of the first eight points of the game before Benton came back to tie it at 12 at the end of the first quarter.

A basket by Koelling gave Helias a 14-12 lead with 6:40 left in the second quarter, the last time the Lady Crusaders would be ahead until the fourth quarter.

Benton led 23-19 at the half and 34-30 going to the fourth quarter.

“We’re tired, we’re struggling to find ways to score right now,” Wiggans said. “But we’re still playing good defense and we’re getting points off of that and that’s helping to keep us in these games.”

Helias adjusted its lineup on the floor several times in hopes to get things going.

“We have some girls on the bench that have earned playing time by working hard in practice and I wanted to see if they could spark us,” Wiggans said.

Johnson finished with a game-high 18 points for Benton (9-2, ranked No. 3 in Class 4) on her way to earning all-tournament honors. Andrea Simmons added 14, while Peyton Anderson totaled 11.

Koelling paced Helias with 16 points, while Galbraith chipped in with 11. Koelling and Morris, both named to the all-tournament team, had 10 rebounds each.

“We’ve fought this season against a schedule that is one of the toughest in the state, we’ve been playing ranked opponent after ranked opponent,” Wiggans said.

Helias (10-1), ranked No. 1 in Class 5, is back in action Thursday night at home for Senior Night in a Central Missouri Activities Conference contest against the Sedalia Smith-Cotton Tigers.