Helias coach Garrett Wiggans was pleased to see his Lady Crusaders rally from a 21-point deficit Saturday night. But that doesn't erase the frustration of falling behind by 21 points in the first place.
"What we do in practice, and what we preach, is starting fast and having energy," Wiggans said after Helias' 72-68 overtime loss to the Boonville Lady Pirates at Rackers Fieldhouse. "When the ball was tipped to the final horn, we did not have that. We were not ready to play.
"I have to do a better job of getting the girls ready to play and getting them prepared, especially for an opponent like that."
Adalyn Koelling scored from the left block on a pass from Lindsey Byers on Helias' first possession of the game. After that, the Lady Crusaders followed with five consecutive turnovers.
Helias committed 11 turnovers in the first quarter and ended the game with 25.
"We did not do a good job of handling their pressure," Wiggans said.
Boonville came out with a full-court press, then fell back into a 3-2 zone defense that closed off several passing lanes for Helias.
"We have to get better at knowing when to go to the basketball, and then having a plan once we do catch the basketball," Wiggans said.
Boonville made three 3-pointers to close the first quarter and build a 20-9 lead. The Lady Pirates, ranked No. 5 in Class 4, opened the game shooting 7-of-11 from 3-point range.
Kennedy Renfrow knocked down another 3 and followed that with a basket 10 seconds later, giving Boonville its largest lead of the game at 38-17 with 3:50 left in the second quarter.
Helias held Boonville scoreless for the last 3:25 of the half and went into halftime down 40-28, finishing the second quarter on a 9-0 run.
Kylie Bernskoetter, who scored a team-high 27 points for the Lady Crusaders, had 12 points in the second quarter.
"Kylie's a good basketball player," Wiggans said. " She got to the rim and she finished. She's a heck of a free-throw shooter too. She definitely kept us in this game."
Helias, ranked No. 2 in Class 5, closed the gap to single digits in the third quarter, trailing 51-42 entering the fourth.
Then it was the Lady Crusaders' chance to turn up the heat with their full-court press, which helped force nine turnovers in the fourth quarter against the Lady Pirates.
Mikah Edwards scored a layup off a steal, then Claire Manns got a steal and a layup off the press, making the score 53-48 with 6:47 to play.
"We did a good job of going to that full-court pressure and creating havoc in there and getting turnovers," Wiggans said.
Edwards hit a 3 from the top of the key, and then after another Boonville turnover, Byers knocked down a baseline jumper to tie the score at 53 with 5:50 to play.
"That was a big-time shot by Lindsey," Wiggans said.
Helias was unable to take the lead, but still found a way to play evenly with Boonville and force overtime.
Manns drew a foul with :57.6 left in the fourth quarter. Manns, who scored the only bench points for either team, made both free throws to tie the game at 58.
"She's a freshman and didn't play a majority of the game, but she came in and gave us really, really good minutes," Wiggans said of Manns. "She grabbed a couple of huge rebounds and stepped up and knocked down some big free throws when we needed her to."
Boonville opted to hold for the last shot but couldn't get off an attempt. Byers and Edwards knocked the ball away from Boonville's Addi Brownfield, but time expired before the Lady Crusaders heaved a last-second shot.
Helias won the opening tip in overtime but came up empty on its first possession. That opened the door for Boonville, which thrived at the free-throw line in the extra period.
The Lady Pirates, who shot 19-of-22 from the line in the win, were 12-of-13 in overtime. Brownfield, who scored a game-high 31 points, was 9-of-10 from the foul line in the extra four minutes.
"We won the tip, we got a good possession," Wiggans said. "We just didn't get it in."
Jodie Bass finished with 17 points and Renfrow added 13 points for Boonville (12-1). Kourtney Kendrick totaled nine points and nine rebounds.
"We're going to have to beat a team like that in districts, with that caliber of talent and people that can score," Wiggans said. "That's a game that we're going to have to win if we want to be district champs."
Edwards scored 16 points for the Lady Crusaders, shooting 4-of-11 from 3 before fouling out in overtime. Byers finished with a double-double of 13 points and 11 rebounds.
Helias (10-2) will host Sedalia Smith-Cotton in a Central Missouri Activities Conference matchup Wednesday. The JV game starts at 5:30 p.m., followed by the varsity game at 7 p.m.