As soon as the second quarter rolled around on Tuesday night at Gary Filbert Court, the game was over. The Mexico girls defeated Marshall 50-37 in their North Central Missouri Conference opener and then the Bulldogs won 70-40 against the Owls in their conference and home opener. The Lady Bulldogs (2-4, 1-0 NCMC) extend their winning streak against Marshall (0-5, 0-1 NCMC) to seven games while the Bulldogs (5-0, 1-0 NCMC) won their eighth straight against the Owls (0-3, 0-1 NCMC).
The Mexico girls outscored Marshall 20-7 in the second quarter after trailing 15-13 after one, ramping up the defensive pressure to eventually come away with 18 steals. Claire Hudson finished with 26 (including 21 of them in the first half and four 3-pointers) points, nine rebounds and seven steals, followed by Jo Thurman's 10 points, seven assists and three steals.
"Our plan from the beginning was to get up, get aggressive and force turnovers early," head coach Makenzie Mudd said. "We were just a little slow in kicking up our energy. We then had a few forced turnovers and a few layups and that really sparked it. We're a team that once we get excited, we really feed off of each other and can keep doing things."
Afterwards, the Mexico boys held a tight 18-13 lead over Marshall after the first quarter but then outscored the Owls 16-7 in the second quarter. The lead gradually grew until nine Bulldogs scored and the team drained seven 3-pointers. Charlie Fisher hit three of those deep shots, finishing with 13 of Mexico's 21 bench points, DJ Long led the floor with 20 points and had three steals, and Jaydon Eldridge finished with 13 points.
"We were just trying to hold them to one shot and out and making the guards take tough shots," head coach Darren Pappas said. "You don't want them standing around the perimeter and have open looks. We did a good job of running them off the 3-point line and making them take tough shots right outside the paint."
Mexico plays Ewing Marion Kauffman (2-3) at 2:30 p.m. at Mizzou Arena for the Norm Stewart Classic and then the Lady Bulldogs play the following game in the Classic at 4 p.m. against School of the Osage (3-3).
Look for the full stories in the Saturday, Dec. 9, 2023, edition of the Mexico Ledger.
