By Cody Thorn Here are the candidates for the SBLive Missouri High School Athlete of the Week for August 29-Sept. 4 as nominated by fans, readers and SBLive’s
Helias senior Gabrielle Bax has been a superstar all postseason, but she managed to save her best for last. Bax scored a career-high 24 points, including back-to-back 3-pointers that gave the Lady Crusaders the lead for good late in the third quarter. Those six points helped propel Helias to a 51-40 win against the St. James Lady Tigers in the Class 4 girls third-place game Saturday morning at JQH Arena.
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 haven’t advanced to a basketball Final Four since 1995. The Ava Lady Bears have never been. One of those streaks will end this afternoon when eighth-ranked Helias (22-7) takes on ninth-ranked Ava (22-5) in the Class 4 quarterfinals at Lebanon High School. Game time is 1 p.m.