March 15, 2019

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. --- Whatever Brad Conway told his team in the pre-game pep talk, he should bottle it.

It wouldn't hurt to keep that fourth-quarter chat in his pocket, either.

It's not how you start, it's how you finish? Okay, but the Jefferson City Lady Jays owned both Friday, and now they own a ticket to the Class 5 state championship game.

The Lady Jays flew from the gates to take an 11-0 lead against Parkway Central, then finally applied a late knockout blow with a 10-2 run in the fourth quarter to dismiss the Colts 43-29 in the Class 5 semifinals at the Hammons Center.

It's down to this --- the top-ranked Lady Jays (29-1) will shoot for the program's first state championship at 8:10 p.m. Saturday against second-ranked North Kansas City (28-2), which advanced with a 42-29 win over Republic.

One to go.

"It's wonderful, the girls are super-excited and I'm really happy for them" said Conway, Jefferson City's fourth-year head coach. "It's something we've been thinking about since last year and into the beginning of this year.

"As gratifying as this win is, there's still one to go --- and it's the biggest one of all."

Indeed, but let's take a moment to enjoy this one, first.

With the Lady Jays playing in their fourth Final Four and first in 13 years, this one appeared to be over in less than three minutes, starting with a running score by Caitlin Anderson just 15 seconds into the game.

The Lady Jays led the rest of the way.

Breaking down the rest of the game-opening salvo: Two free throws by Kara Daly, 4-0; a 3-pointer by Hannah Nilges, 7-0; a Daly put-back, 9-0; then short jumper by Daly, set up on an Anderson steal, and it was 11-0 with 5:12 left in the first quarter.

"We were executing really well and our defense was solid," Conway said. "And they were kind of settling for jumpers."

After that, the game hit a sturdy wall. Parkway Central (23-7) was within 16-6 after one quarter, before Jefferson City extended the margin to 26-13 at the break.

"We were fortunate, and we felt  good about, going into halftime with a double-digit lead," Conway said.

After making four of its first five shots to start the game, Jefferson City made only six of 23 the rest of the half. Then came the third quarter, when the Lady Jays went more than 4 1/2 minutes without scoring, going 0-for-5 from the field with three turnovers in that span.

And the lead was still 13.

"Both teams really struggled in the third quarter, it was like neither team wanted to put the ball in the bucket," Conway said. "Although, I thought we were really, really good defensively in the second half."

Jefferson City's lead was 33-23 after three, but Parkway Central got within eight on a score by Claudia Cook early in the fourth.

At that point, however, the Lady Jays finally sealed the deal with a 10-2 run to extend their lead to a game-high 16 points, 43-27 with less than three minutes left.

"We started getting some deflections and we started rebounding the ball really well, defensively," Conway said. "After they cut it to eight, we were able to hit some shots and get the lead back to double-digits.

"Then, we kind of started milking that clock and they really never came after us until it was almost too late."

There was no almost about it, it was too late. Actually, it was more head-scratching than that because too late never came --- the Lady Jays didn't shoot a free throw in the final 4 1/2 minutes.

Daly finished with a double-double, 14 points and 10 rebounds, Sarah Linthacum scored 10, while Anderson totaled nine points, eight rebounds and six assists.

Anderson, who's headed to Indiana State, put on a dribbling display worthy of Curly Neal (younger fans might have to Google that.) She dribbled and darted, going around and past and through defender after defender time after time, to either score or set up a teammate to score.

The oohs and ahhs from the crowd were plentiful.

"Once she got settled down a little bit," Conway said, "she played a lot more under control. If you're a basketball fan, it was a lot of fun to watch her. "

Lastly, what exactly did Conway say to his team before the game? Well, it wasn't exactly a Win one for the Gipper speech.

"I told them there were just eight quarters of basketball left in the season," Conway said, "and four of them are right here. Just go out and play like they have all year."

This was not a booming, animated, rah-rah pep-talk, that's not really Conway's style, anyway. But it sure worked.

Now, only North Kansas City stands in the way of the Lady Jays making school history.

"They've made it this far," Conway said, "now, it comes down to whoever wants it more."

One to go.

Loeffler's Link

One box yet to check:
Lady Jays two wins
away from state title

Jefferson City's Caitlin Anderson (left) gets ready to dish a past to fellow senior Greta Haarman during Friday's Class 5 semifinal game with Parkway Central in Springfield.

Chris Leuckel

One to go: Lady Jays start fast,
finish fast in 43-29 semifinal win