The Mexico girls didn’t like the pace of Friday’s home game against Kirksville.

Mexico vs Kirksville Photo Gallery

The Lady Bulldogs did their best to change it, coming back from a 22-13 halftime deficit to eventually tie the game at 34 halfway through the fourth quarter, but ultimately lost 47-42 to their North Central Missouri Conference and district foe. Mexico had a couple turnovers near the end as Kirksville added to its tally of 18 steals in the game.

Head coach Makenzie Mudd said scoring opportunities were there for the Lady Bulldogs (8-10, 2-3 NCMC) early and gave them a shot at their second district victory of the week following Wednesday’s win at Hallsville. However, Mexico had too many passes directly under the basket not reach the mark or mishandled as possession swung the other way multiple times until its record against district opponents fell to 3-2. 

“We had great opportunities with some good cuts,” Mudd said. “We were seeing them but seeing them a little too late, making that pass by the time the defense got there. I love that we’re seeing those opportunities, but we just got to pick up our speed a little bit and get those passes in there quickly.”

Mudd said playing quicker was the primary focus after Mexico fell short despite Claire Hudson nailing a 3-pointer a foot or two behind the arc to cut Kirksville’s lead to 45-42 with 16 seconds left in the game. Hudson finished with seven points to match Jo Thurman’s seven points to go with her five rebounds, five assists and four steals, Grace Hudson led the team with 10 points and Hannah Loyd added nine points and five rebounds off the bench.

In the second half, Mudd said all those aforementioned players became more involved in the offense and were then hitting those passes deep in the post for points. Mexico had to climb back in the game after a slow start and then made costly mistakes with little room for error.

"We started off slow at the beginning," Mudd said. "We slowed our pace down and played to what they wanted us to do at the beginning, which got us in that hole early. At the end, there were a few little small, mental breakdowns — little silly turnovers that were very preventable."

After encountering some dangerous Kirksville shooters in recent years, Mudd said this season’s Lady Tigers (7-6, 2-2 NCMC) presented a different look of trying to go inside more often. The Lady Bulldogs won a defensive battle 27-19 earlier this season in Kirksville and made the Lady Tigers work in the second half.

Jersey Herbst, who finished with 11 points, hit a 3-pointer in the third quarter for one of Kirksville’s two field goals in that time frame. The game on the court Mexico made Kirksville play in the latter half of the game resembled football at times. The Lady Tigers resorted to heaving full-court passes like a hail mary down the field to counter stingy defense.

“We picked up the intensity in the third quarter,” Mudd said. “The energy level is something that we were lacking in that first half. In the third quarter, they weren’t prepared for that. They were expecting us to come out the way we finished that first half, and we were able to catch them off guard.”

Grace Hudson hit a 3-pointer in transition to make it 29-28 Kirksville near the end of the third quarter and then Karlee Sefrit put back her own miss to tie the game at 34 about halfway through the fourth quarter. Loyd scored on a pair of layups in that final quarter to keep Mexico within striking distance to post another solid game off the bench this week.

“Hannah is getting much more comfortable with the ball and confident with it, and that’s leading to much better things,” Mudd said. “In the beginning of the season, she’d catch it and kind of panic, ‘What do I do?’ but now is catching it and making better choices and just going with it. Her rebounding is getting so much better as she goes after everything.”

Paishynce Fouts made a difference in the fourth quarter as well for Kirksville, scoring nine of her game-high 14 points. Fouts fought through a foul on a fastbreak for a 3-point play and then Chloe Carter followed that with an offensive putback as part of a 3-point play. 

“They’re going to look for some more inside looks, and that’s not something we’ve seen from them the past few years,” Mudd said. 

Mexico hosts Macon (6-9) at 6:15 p.m. Tuesday as the Lady Bulldogs go for their first victory against Macon since 2017.