Jefferson Coach Jason Edwards thought his team's 59-45 loss at Xavier Tuesday night in a Mississippi Valley Conference girls basketball game was because the Saints showed more energy.

Xavier Coach Tom Lilly felt it was something all together different.

“It's called contagion,” he said. “That's a smart man's term. It means to have a collective influence on others. It's like the flu.”

Whatever it was, the game was decided when the Saints went on a 17-0 run over a five-minute span in the second quarter.

Despite a spate of turnovers and almost no rebounding, the J-Hawks were still in the contest before the long dry spell. They made some headway in the second half, but it was far too steep of a hill to climb.

“In that second quarter, they were the hungrier team,” Edwards said afterward. “We just couldn't match their energy level. They played harder than us.”

Jefferson lost the ball 11 times in the first quarter and allowed Xavier nine offensive rebounds, but trailed only 15-11. Sophomore Amanda Ollinger was the savior for the J-Hawks with eight first-quarter points.

But then Xavier's Hayley Deutmeyer went on a tear and her teammates followed suit. The sweet-shooting senior tallied 11 of her game-high 22 points in the second quarter, and others stepped up to build a 37-20 halftime lead.

“When the ball goes in, it builds confidence,” Lilly pointed out. “It's like, 'If she can do it, I can do it, too.'

“And as it's been all season long, as Deutmeyer goes the team goes.”

Depending almost solely on the hard-charging Ollinger for point production, the J-Haws managed to claw back within 10 points at 53-43. But her team-high 20 points were far from enough.

“We battled in the second half and closed the gap some,” Edwards noted. “We were just too far behind.

“We had one bad quarter. But we're getting to the time of the year that when you have a bad quarter, that's the end of your season. I hope we learned something and get better.”

JEFFERSON (45): Amanda Ollinger 7 6-6 20, Kennedy Dighton 2 5-6 9, Avery Guy 1 3-3 5, Maddie Blietz 2 0-0 5, Kiely Brathwaite 2 1-2 6, Autume Starks 0 0-0 0, Erin Kuba 0 0-0 0, Sam Kitterman 0 0-0 0, Cassandra Veglahn 0 0-0 0, Emma Rolwes 0 0-0 0, Alexis Dahlen-Zeck 0 0-0 0. Totals 14 15-17 45.

XAVIER (59): Morgan Breitbach 2 4-4 8, Lizzy Bailey 0 0-0 0, Hayley Deutmeyer 9 3-7 22, Abby Watson 4 0-0 8, Maddie Bertsch 4 5-7 13, Jenny Dickes 0 2-2 2, Meghan Joens 1 0-0 2, Erin Drahozal 0 4-5 4. Totals 20 18-25 59.

Halftime – Xavier 37, Jefferson 20. 3-point goals – Jefferson 2 (Brathwaite, Blietz), Xavier 1 (Deutmeyer). Total fouls – Jefferson 22, Xavier 15. Fouled out – None.