Helias opened fast and never looked back.
The Lady Crusaders scored the first 10 points Wednesday night on their way to an eventual 56-31 win against the Capital City Lady Cavaliers during Central Missouri Activities Conference action at Capital City High School.
Ava Morris got the Lady Crusaders started when she used one of Adalyn Koelling’s co-game-high four assists for a layup, then Koelling assisted Kenadi Harrison for a left-corner 3-pointer in transition before Mikah Edwards pump faked a defender on the left wing before driving for a layup to create a 7-0 lead and two of her 10 points.
Edwards then dished an assist to Harrison for her second 3 to create the early 10-0 Helias advantage with 3:30 left in the first quarter.
“When it came down to it, we took care of business,” Helias coach Garrett Wiggans said. “But, the girls would say the same thing, we need to play better especially going into the stretch here with districts looming around the corner.”
Gallery: Capital City Girls Basketball vs. Helias
Capital City was able to immediately storm back with an 8-2 run.
Addison Jones used one of Rylea Sanning’s four assists for a cutting layup, getting Capital City on the board for the first time with 3:05 left in the first, then Sanning assisted Jada Anderson with a post-entry pass for another Lady Cavalier layup.
After a Koelling offensive rebound turned into a free throw, Danijah Fluellen drove from the left wing for a Lady Cavalier layup, the first of her co-team-high nine points. Then after a Morris free throw, Natalie Allison used an Anderson assist for a transition layup to bring Capital City within four at 12-8.
Edwards was able to use a Harrison assist for a 3 from the right wing to send Helias into the first break leading 15-8.
“That’s a tough team, they play aggressive defense,” Capital City coach Ashley Agee said. “If they’re allowed to play like that, it’s hard to get anything done. I think if we played them earlier in the year, we might have been down 30 in the first half, but that wasn’t the case. It was a good ballgame and I don’t think the score shows how much that game was different. I think we’re playing good basketball right now.”
The Lady Cavaliers scored the first four points out of the break, a Fluellen short jumper and a Sanning-assisted Anderson layup in the post, two of her nine points, to cut Helias’ advantage to 15-12, but it would be as close as the Lady Cavaliers would get the rest of the night as Helias scored six of the next seven points to create a 21-13 lead with 2:32 left in the half.
Fluellen turned a steal into a layup to cut the lead to 21-15, but a Maddy Larkin 3 off a Morris assist and an Alaina Meyer free throw extended the lead to 10 at 25-15.
Allison and Larkin traded baseline jumpers to send the teams into the locker room with Helias up 27-17.
“At halftime we talked about what it takes to be a champion,” Wiggans said. “I don’t know that we were fully locked in and ready to go tonight from the tip and a lot of that’s on the head coach, so I have to do a better job making sure we’re more focused in practice, more locked in so next time we step on the floor for real, the girls are locked in and ready to go.”
Helias was ready to go out of the break.
Koelling assisted Claire Galbraith, who ended with 12 points with 10 coming in the second half, for a layup to open the third.
After a Fluellen 3 off a Sanning assist with 4:17 left, Helias scored the next six points off two Koelling layups, four of her game-high 15 points with 14 coming in the second half, and a Galbraith layup in transition to extend to a 35-20 advantage.
Capital City used three free throws to cut the lead to 12, but Helias scored the final four points of the third to send the Lady Crusaders into the final break with a 39-23 advantage.
“I’m proud of us, we played a really good two-and-a-half quarters,” Agee said. “… I think at the end, fatigue set in because we only had a six-man rotation. We had two girls who usually play a lot of minutes not play at all and that hurt us late in the game.”
Koelling controlled the fourth for Helias, scoring eight of the team’s 17 points and helping the Lady Crusaders start the quarter on a 15-2 run to create a 54-25 lead with 2:16 left to play.
Capital City scored six of the final eight points, with layups from Anderson and Allison and a long floater from Jones, but it was too little, too late for the Lady Cavaliers.
Helias shot 23-of-50 (46 percent) overall, 5-of-17 (29.4 percent) from 3 and 5-of-8 (62.5 percent) at the free-throw line, while outrebounding Capital City 29-22. Capital City shot 13-of-38 (34.2 percent) overall, 1-of-9 (11.1 percent) from 3 and 4-of-6 (66.7 percent) at the free-throw line.
Capital City (7-18, 0-5 CMAC) will complete its regular season with its final CMAC matchup when it plays at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Sedalia Smith-Cotton.
Helias (18-5, 3-1 CMAC) will close the regular season with its final two CMAC games, playing Jefferson City on the road at 7 p.m. Monday and finishing with a home game next Thursday against Rock Bridge.
“The two games we have left are big ones,” Wiggans said. “They’re gonna have that district feel to them.”
Helias also beat Capital City 39-33 in junior varsity action Wednesday at Capital City High School.