SPRINGFIELD The Helias Lady Crusaders have shown time and again they can be the better of two teams in the fourth quarter.
The hole was just too deep to climb out of Friday.
Back on Dec. 27, the Helias Lady Crusaders defeated St. Joseph Benton in the first round of the Jefferson Bank Holiday Hoops Tournament at Capital City High School. When they meet this afternoon, the stakes, and the gym, will be a lot bigger when Helias (23-7) and Benton (24-5) meet at 4 p.m. in the Class 4 semifinals at Hammons Student Center in Springfield.
It wasn’t the start the Helias Lady Crusaders were looking for Saturday afternoon. Helias had problems on both ends of the floor, allowing the Ava Lady Bears to jump out to an eight-point lead at the end of the first quarter in the Class 4 quarterfinals at Lebanon High School. “If somebody was watching us for the first time, they probably thought we were out of it,” Helias coach Garrett Wiggans said. “But that’s not in our girls’ DNA. They were going to battle back.”
The Helias Lady Crusaders had a plan. They followed it to near perfection. Helias jumped out to a 14-point lead in the first quarter on its way to a 70-55 win Tuesday night against the California Lady Pintos in the Class 4 sectionals at Missouri S&T.