The Jefferson City Lady Jays had to go back in the memory books Friday night.
Hannah Linthacum hit a 3-pointer on the first possession of the game to give the Lady Jays the lead against the Waynesville Lady Tigers at Fleming Fieldhouse. When the Lady Tigers got the ball for the first time, they ran nearly two minutes off the clock, dribbling between the midcourt line and the top of the key against token pressure from the Lady Jays.
Stall ball.
The possession resulted in a turnover, as did their next five. But after the first couple of Waynesville possessions, Jefferson City switched its defense to a half-court trap.
"We haven't gone over it in practice for like seven or eight weeks," Jefferson City coach Brad Conway said. "But we did all right with it."
The defense worked pretty well as the Lady Jays rolled to a 49-11 victory against the Lady Tigers.
"We got some steals, we got some deflections and some fast-break points," Conway said. "And they did only score 11 points."
The two trappers were often Kara Daly along with either Sarah or Hannah Linthacum.
"When you have to try to throw the ball over a pair of 6-footers like that, it can be difficult," Conway said. "And for not practicing it for that long of a time, I was OK with the way we handled it."
A layup by Sarah Linthacum in the final seconds of the first quarter gave Jefferson City a 14-2 lead. The Lady Jays then held the Lady Tigers scoreless until the final minute of the second quarter on their way to a 25-4 advantage at halftime.
Waynesville had 14 turnovers and just nine total shots from the field in the first two quarters.
"It was something we haven't seen," Conway said of the stall game. "So we got to work against something new."
Conway is not in favor of bringing a shot clock to the high school game.
"I'm old-school," he said. "You get a five- or six-point lead late in the game, I want to run some clock and make you come foul me.
"I know the game has evolved and I'm probably in the minority, but there are some things we need to leave alone."
The third quarter was the best of the night for Jefferson City's offense. The Lady Jays were 9-of-16 from the field and 2-of-3 from the line in the eight minutes with just one turnover as they took a 46-6 advantage.
"We were pretty efficient in that quarter," Conway said.
With a running clock, the five reserve players for the Lady Jays played the entire fourth quarter.
Naudia Evans had 10 of the 11 points for Waynesville (2-6).
Daly finished with 14 points to pace three Lady Jays in double figures. Hannah Nilges and Sarah Linthacum added 10 points each. Hannah Linthacum pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds.
Jefferson City (12-0), ranked No. 1 in Class 5 by the Missouri Basketball Coaches Association and No. 25 in the country by MaxPreps, will play next week at the Union Tournament. The top-seeded Lady Jays will take on KIPP Academy of St. Louis in the opening round at 5:30 p.m. Monday.
In Friday night's JV game, Addison Morgan scored 20 points to lead Jefferson City to a 38-19 victory against Waynesville.