The Mexico senior girls have been through various ups and downs.

Mexico Senior Night Photo Gallery

Mexico Winterwarming Photo Gallery

The Lady Bulldogs experienced a down on Monday night with a 68-50 loss to Class 4 No. 8 and North Central Missouri Conference rival Moberly, following a first half they only trailed 34-26. Still, that didn’t tarnish the good memories relived on Senior Night and Winterwarming.

Mexico (10-14, 3-6 NCMC) had six seniors to honor after the game, including Jo Thurman, Karlie Sefrit, Addison Heim, Kylie Burnett and Ella and Anna Raines. Sefrit struggled to hold back emotions as she looked back on the four years she was with the program — a span of time the future Central Methodist University softball player didn’t expect to spend with the team.

“Basketball is not my primary sport,” Sefrit said. “Having the people on the team that I had and having the coaches that I had were the best thing I could have probably ever had for basketball.”

Sefrit believes she was changed “for the better” as an athlete and person in her first three years with legendary coach Ed Costley, who was given a special ceremony earlier this season, and this year under Makenzie Mudd. The court didn’t feel as comfortable to Sefrit as a diamond, at first, but that isn’t the truth anymore. 

Since she started on the junior varsity team as a freshman with the rest of the seniors, Sefrit said she has learned to better control her anger and has appreciated being with such a great group, enjoying her time with them at practices, at bus rides, at team dinners and other occasions.

“We all grew together,” Sefrit said, with a smile. “Almost like softball, we have been together through all of it — thick and thin and through every argument. Every time we got kicked out of the gym, we all left together every single time. Nothing was separate between us. It was like that all four years.”

Thurman is going into college softball like Sefrit and will take her talents to the University of Missouri. Even though she will be leaving basketball behind as well after this season, Thurman can’t help but praise the culture of the program and is grateful to have been a part of it all four years.

In the game, Thurman didn’t score until the fourth quarter against a physical Moberly team, finishing with four points but affecting the game with five rebounds, four steals and four assists. Regardless of her numbers on the court, she is glad to have added basketball to her high school career.

“Playing another sport and getting my mind off the fact that sports don’t define me, basketball really helped to curb my mentality and make me a better person and player altogether,” Thurman said. 

Moberly (23-2, 9-0 NCMC) has multiple girls playing basketball at the college level, including its top two scorers Grace Billington and Asa Fanning. The program’s all-time leading scorer Billington finished with a game-high 25 points and five 3-pointers, including an off-balance one in the third quarter that netted her 2,000 points for her career, Fanning added 17 points, and Mia Faught scored 14 points off the bench.

Mexico answered with Claire Hudson and her 24 points, five rebounds and three 3-pointers, followed by her younger sister Grace Hudson’s six points. The second quarter was where Hudson scored 12 of her points, knocking down two 3-pointers and putting in three free throws after being fouled just before halftime. Mudd said she thought the Lady Bulldogs moved the ball well in the second quarter but ultimately “ran out of steam,” being outscored 20-8 in the third quarter.

“They are a very aggressive team and very athletic team,” Mudd said. “We definitely had to work hard on the inside to get those rebounds, as they have a lot of height and strength and we are lacking in that height department. It brought in a lot of fatigue because of all of the work we had to put in.”

Just like Mudd said, Moberly made Mexico work for just about everything on the glass and didn’t allow an easy layup without some contact. Still, Mudd was proud of the effort she saw against a team the Lady Bulldogs lost to by almost 30 points earlier this season and the seniors, who make up about half of the varsity squad, have a lot to do with that.

“Jo Thurman is a great leader and has been for a while,” Mudd said. “(Karlee) works really hard down low, Kylie Burnett is the same way, Addison Heim has a great overall positive vibe to the team, and Ella and Anna Raines also work really hard. We’re definitely going to miss them next year because they all bring something different to the team.”

Mudd likes the matchup in Mexico’s Class 4 District 8 first-round game with a young Wright City (6-18) at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 26 in Fulton as she hopes the Lady Bulldogs see conference rival Fulton a fourth time this season.

Thurman is ready for districts but will never be ready to part from her friends.

“The six seniors, we get along so well,” Thurman said. “I feel like we’re going to be friends forever. It’s just a tight-knit bond that you don’t normally see in a group of seniors.”