Playing in the championship game of the State Farm Invitational, Jefferson City went without a field goal in the fourth quarter --- they didn't score a point until Caitlin Anderson hit two free throws with 13 seconds left --- as the St. Joseph Benton Cardinals secured a 35-21 win Saturday night at Fleming Fieldhouse.

"They made some shots and we didn't, that's what it came down to," Lady Jays coach Brad Conway said. "Their defense has always been solid, but we had chances --- we just couldn't put the ball in the hole tonight. When we got offensive rebounds, we were just throwing the ball over the rim."

To be sure, Benton plays good defense. But even when Jefferson City had open looks, nothing doing. Take the fourth quarter, when the Lady Jays were an imperfect 10 from the field --- 0-for-10.

And you thought it was cold outside.

In the 23-year history of the girls tournament, the 21 points ties the mark for the third-lowest output. Ever. The combined 56 points is second-lowest.

For championship games, those are all-time records ... records you'd rather not have.

Jefferson City (6-5), the defending tournament champ and ranked No. 9 in Class 5, had only two leads and both came early. The last came with 2:22 left in the first quarter on a 3-pointer by Hannah Nilges to make it 8-7, before Benton (11-0, No. 7 Class 4) edged out to a 9-8 lead after one.

The margin was 19-14 at the half and 29-19 after three quarters. The Lady Jays scored only four points in the game's final 12 minutes and the Cardinals --- despite only scoring six points in the fourth --- were able to increase the final margin to 14 on their way to winning this tournament for the second time in three years and fifth overall.

Tough shooting nights happen ... it was something else that disappointed Conway.

"They got super-physical with us and we didn't know how to react," he said. "This is varsity basketball and you've got to get tough. And of course, this is the championship game, they're going to let you play."

To get physically tougher, you've must get mentally tougher.

"That's exactly right, and that's what I told them at halftime," Conway said. "Hopefully, we learn from this --- learn to be more physical and when things aren't going your way and you're not making shots, you have to tighten up defensively.

"And we didn't."

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THE HIGHLIGHT FOR THE BUFFINGTON FAMILY Saturday night was the always-splendid rendition of the National Anthem by the Buffington Boys.

Once the game started, however, Josh Buffington's team hit its share of sourer notes, especially in the second half when Craigmont (Tenn.) outscored the Helias Crusaders 42-19 in the Chiefs' 72-61 win in the third-place game of the Machens Great 8 Classic.

"We're not flowing right now and it all starts on the defensive end," Buffington said. "This team is giving up more points than any team I've ever been a part of, as a head coach. We're not taking it personally when we get scored on we're giving up too many layups.

"We're making the game easy for our opponents."

In the first half, not so much. Nathan Bax, a 6-5 senior, scored 15 of his 22 points as the Crusaders (6-3) jumped out to a 42-30 lead against the Chiefs (11-6).

"Nathan had a great game, he's had a great season for us," said Buffington, whose team also received 13 points from Landon Harrison. "He plays with a lot of passion and he's brought a lot of leadership to the table, and I'm proud of him for that."

The Cardinals outscored the Crusaders 20-7 in the third quarter to take a 50-49 lead into the fourth and, after five lead changes, they grabbed the lead for good at 60-59 on a follow-shot by Jared Jefferson with 3:09 left.

That started a game-ending, game-winning and head-scratching 14-2 flurry to end it.

"We're not a fourth-quarter team right now; our team melts down when were not hitting shots," Buffington said. "There are so many little things that we're not doing --- it really doesn't matter what we do from an execution standpoint until we figure out our roles and figure out the intangibles of the game basketball.

"Right now, I think it's just a team that needs to find its heartbeat, play with some passion and play for each other."

THE LADY CRUSADERS FARED BETTER in their third-place game. But just like the girls' title game, points were hard to come by.

Helias (5-6) led 13-7 after one quarter and trailed 19-18 at the half. In the third quarter, the Lady Crusaders scored only three points --- and were still able to pull even with the Lady Kewpies (2-7), who could muster only two points, making it 21-21 heading to the fourth.

The Lady Crusaders --- who received a game-high 13 points from Erin Wyrick --- opened the final frame with a 12-5 run to build a 33-26 lead with less than a minute left. The Lady Kewpies scored the next five points to get within 33-31 and had the ball with 20 seconds left, but Taylor Spencer missed a 3-pointer, and Helias canned three free throws down the stretch to win it.

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For all the tournament scores, please go to http://krcgtv.com/sports/high-school/great-8-classicstate-farm-invitational-scores-and-schedules

Loeffler's Link

You thought it was cold outside:
Lady Jays struggle in 35-21 loss

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Jefferson City's Caitlin Anderson drives to the hoop past St. Joe Benton's Jayde Williams during the first half of Saturday night's game at Fleming Fieldhouse.

In 'dark', Helias gets

hot; first-round woes

continue for Jays