JACKSON, Mo. --Sometimes you can get away with being less than your best, but not against a team like Neelyville.
Already down a starter, Saxony Lutheran traded blows with the Tigers all night, but Neelyville came up with the plays down the stretch to prevail in the final moments, 62-60, and snap the host Crusaders' 11-game win streak Monday night.
"They play so hard and so physical, and when you don't match that, you're in trouble," Saxony Lutheran coach Sam Sides said. "We did (match that) sometimes and sometimes we didn't. We missed opportunities to score and we didn't make them. ... They out-rebounded us bad -- I don't know what the difference was, but it seemed bad -- and I think that was the difference in the game.
"You [miss free throws], don't rebound and have too many turnovers and still only get beat by a bucket. That's pretty good, I guess."
But not good enough.
The Crusaders (14-2) led by as many as seven points in the first half, but the game's largest differential for either side in the second half was five points.
Trailing by four with 2 minutes, 20 seconds remaining on the clock, Laurel Mueller took advantage of a Neelyville (12-4) turnover and hit a jump shot to cut the gap to a bucket with 1:12 left to play, and Addison Beussink finished underneath the basket with 41 seconds left, tying the game at 60-all while drawing a foul. But the potential go-ahead free throw was off the mark, and just eight seconds later J'Kayla Fowler converted a pair of free throws for the Tigers to go up 62-60.
The two teams traded steals, but the Crusaders missed the front end of a one-and-one with 11 seconds left. The Tigers matched that miss on the other end of the floor, but the difference was Neelyville came away with the offensive rebound, with Fowler ripping the ball down and making sure Saxony Lutheran never got another chance.
"It's always tough coming over here and playing," Neelyville coach Becky Hale said. "We had a few breakdowns out there, but in the long run I think we had some poise and was able to take care of the ball.
"I think we started rebounding a little more, and coming down with more rebounds gave us a couple more chances to put it back."
Fowler finished with 20 points, nine rebounds, four steals and three assists for the Tigers.
"We did a poor job on Fowler, especially in the first half," Sides said. "She's left hand, left hand, left hand and we still let her go left. We did it two years in a row and it makes no sense to me. We don't seem to know our left from our right. But she's hard to guard because she's quick. She's fast to the bucket and we were a step slow."
Dodd added 19 points, seven rebounds and four assists as both Neelyville standouts seemed to make plays when their team needed them most.
"[Dodd] came up big for us. She had that steal right there (at the end)," Hale said. "And J'Kayla had a monster rebound and we just, at the right moment, made the right decisions."
Beussink led Saxony with 20 points, 12 rebounds and four steals, while Mueller added 14 points and three assists.
The Crusaders were without key starter Masyn McWilliams, who was out with illness. Sides said his senior was showing a variety of symptoms and will be getting evaluated by a doctor today to determine her status.
"Masyn does so much for us that we miss her when she's not out there, but I told the other girls, 'You've got opportunities to get some,' and for the most part they did a pretty good job," Sides said.
Saxony finished the game hitting more field goals and shooting a better percentage from the floor -- 25 of 54 (46.3 percent) -- than Neelyville -- 22 of 53 (41.5 percent) -- but didn't make key free throws. The Crusaders were 5 of 9 (55.6) in the game from the charity stripe but, most importantly, all four misses came in the fourth quarter.
Neelyville finished 11 of 15 from the free-throw line.
"Every close game comes down to free throws," Sides said. "We struggled on free throws the last two years. Last year as a team we shot less than 50 percent. That's not going to win many close games. You've got to make them, and we didn't.
"In a close game you can pick out so many things, but free throws is one of them."
The Tigers were also 7 of 21 (33.3 percent) from 3-point range, while Saxony Lutheran finished 5 of 9 (55.6 percent).
The Crusaders had 17 turnovers to Neelyville's 14.
Saxony opened the game on a 7-0 run and led by seven with 3:32 left in the first quarter. But Neelyville closed the period on an 11-2 run, with Dodd scoring the final four points to take a 15-13 edge after eight minutes.
The Crusaders jumped back in front in the second quarter thanks to a 7-0 swing midway through the period, capped by a 3-pointer by Macey Smith to go up 28-22 with 3:11 on the clock.
But Neelyville responded again and kept things close, and when Fowler took a feed from Dodd and layed the ball in with 22 seconds on the clock, it cut Saxony Lutheran's lead to 32-29 going into halftime.
Dodd fueled the Tigers early in the second half, and when she hit her second consecutive 3 with 4:12 on the third-quarter clock, it tied things at 37-all.
The teams traded buckets until, with five seconds left in the period, Dodd hit a jumper to give Neelyville a 48-46 advantage going into the fourth quarter. In the end, that gap held up.
Neelyville is back on the court Thursday at East Carter.