As players get positioned for the rebound, Lindsey Byers (left) of Helias watches her short jumper fall through the net during the first quarter of Monday night's game with Jefferson City at Rackers Fieldhouse.

Lady Jays stay perfect, roll over

Lady Crusaders to move to 16-0

Jan. 21, 2019

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. --- No Micah Linthacum, no problem.

Because without her --- and they're certainly better with the 6-4 senior and Mizzou signee --- nothing's changed for the Jefferson City Lady Jays.

They keep winning ... and winning ... and winning.

For the Helias Lady Crusaders, well, the schedule has to get easier, doesn't it? Yes. Because it can't get any tougher.

Playing their second straight No. 1 team, Helias stayed with Jefferson City in the first half, before the Lady Jays busted it open with a 14-4 scoring edge in the third quarter on their way to a 45-31 win Monday night at Rackers Fieldhouse.

Giving up only 31 points might sound like a great defensive effort, and it was. But it was merely an average night for the Jefferson City girls, who entered the game giving up exactly 31 ppg.

The Lady Jays (16-0, ranked No. 1 Class 5) held a slender 10-9 lead after one quarter, and the margin was just 23-18 edge at the half.

It wasn't the sharpest half in the history of basketball, but with good reason --- the Lady Jays hadn't played in 10 days, the Lady Crusaders had been off for 18 days.

"I think at the beginning of the game," Lady Jays coach Brad Conway said, "you could tell neither team had played for a while."

But in the second half, Jefferson City only gave up 13 points and this wasn't a big surprise ... the government isn't the only thing that's shut down.

Conway's halftime talk wasn't all about defense, however.

"We were better defensively in the second half," he said, "but we weren't bad in the first half. But we needed to do a better job of executing on offense and making them work a little bit more defense.

"Our shot selection wasn't horrible, but I thought we could get better shots if we had better ball movement. I thought we did that in the second half."

After Jefferson City scored the first four points in the third quarter to make it 27-18, Helias took a timeout. Coach Alan Lepper might have seen what was coming, but the timeout didn't stop it, as Jefferson City's lead would blossom to 37-22 entering the fourth.

That was that, because the Lady Jays could have gone scoreless in the fourth quarter and still won by six.

The last time out for Helias, it had the (dis)pleasure of playing at perennial Class 3 powerhouse Strafford --- which has arguably had the state's best program in any class the last several years. That one was an unsightly 84-38 setback.

Thanks in large part to the schedule, and after starting the season with seven straight wins, the Lady Crusaders (9-4, ranked No. 5 in Class 4) have now lost four of six.

Lindsey Byers paced with Helias with 12 points and Ellie Rockers scored 10.

For the Lady Jays, who've won six straight in the series, Kara Daly totaled 16 points and seven rebounds, and Hannah Nilges finished with 11.

Caitlyn Anderson dished out eight assists and had five steals for the winners.

"She only had four points," Conway said of Anderson, "but she's not having to score like she did last year. And she's good with that, she'd much rather pass the ball, anyway."

Then there's the unfortunate plight of Micah Linthacum, who could still be out for an additional 1-3 weeks with a spiral fracture on the back of her left hand, depending on what the doctors find during her visit on Friday.

In her freshman season, she lost playing time with a concussion; her sophomore year, it was an ankle injury; her junior season, it was her back. Now this.

"She's faced a lot of adversity in her high school career," Conway said.

In past years, this outcome would have wrapped up the mythical Crosstown Showdown Best 2-of-3 traveling trophy for winter sports --- JCHS won in girls basketball and wrestling, Helias won in boys basketball.

But this year, not so fast, my friends --- this year, it's Best 3-of-5, and there will be a girls-boys varsity basketball doubleheader Feb. 12 at Fleming Fieldhouse.

"It's going to be exciting for both schools involved, the players, the coaches, the fans, " Conway said. "The crowds should be really, really good.

"It's a win-win for everybody. You don't have to travel, we challenge each other, it's always exciting ... it's just good basketball."

It's always a treat.

Chris Leuckel

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