Lady Crusaders split scrimmages at Jamboree

Meagan Engelbrecht of Helias drives to the lane against Jefferson City's Greta Haarmann during Thursday night's Helias Jamboree at the Helias Auxiliary Gym.
Meagan Engelbrecht of Helias drives to the lane against Jefferson City's Greta Haarmann during Thursday night's Helias Jamboree at the Helias Auxiliary Gym.

The Helias Jamboree got better for the Helias Lady Crusaders as the night wore on Thursday.

The Lady Crusaders opened with a 32-17 loss to the Jefferson City Lady Jays in the first scrimmage.

"I thought we came out a little tentative," Helias coach Alan Lepper said. "They've just got so much size, and it's across the board."

It took until midway through the next scrimmage against the Blair Oaks Lady Falcons before Helias found its comfort zone and pulled away to a 33-22 win for a split in the three six-minute period scrimmages at the Helias Auxiliary Gym.

"It seemed like our kids relaxed a little bit and actually ran the offense, ran the defense," Lepper said.

Catherine Conley opened with a 3-pointer against Jefferson City, then the Lady Jays went on a 12-0 run. Conley's basket was one of four field goals the Lady Crusaders made in 18 minutes.

Helias shot just 4-of-19 against Jefferson City and committed 15 turnovers.

"It's early," Lepper said. "We'll go back tomorrow and work on our transition offense. We'll be fine. It's more communication than anything."

Jefferson, meanwhile, shot 13-of-32 in the win. The Lady Jays led 14-5 after one period and 30-9 after two.

Lindsey Byers came off the bench and had a team-high five points against Jefferson City. She also posted nine points in the win against Blair Oaks.

"I saw some kids who came off the bench and gave us some really good minutes," Lepper said. "That's encouraging."

Meagan Engelbrecht had 10 points against the Lady Falcons, getting an easy layup off a steal on the first possession of the game.

Byers made a 3-pointer with 3:04 left in the second period to give Helias a 17-14 lead against Blair Oaks. The Lady Crusaders made six straight free throws and led the rest of the way.

Byers and Conley also made a 3 for Helias.

"I told the kids last week, 'You have permission to shoot the ball, but you also have permission to miss,'" Lepper said. "It seems ingrained in them, that if they miss their first one or two shots, they just shut down. This year, they're going to fire up shots."

Byers and Ellie Rockers each grabbed six rebounds during the scrimmages.

Lepper said he wanted to pay attention to the little things in the Jamboree.

"Against JC, the 50/50 balls and the rebounds, we just didn't get," he said. "Against Blair Oaks, we were pretty even with them."

Helias opens the season Tuesday at Blair Oaks.

"It's going to be a completely different ballgame on Tuesday night," Lepper said.