2024 junior high season recaps

The junior high season ended for Audrain County schools last month. Each team’s coach had some thoughts to share from this season.

Mexico eighth-grade boys

“We finished 12-1 on the year, with our only loss being a really close game with Hannibal. Our team had several leaders and many players that contributed to our team in various ways. Several players were top scorers for us this year, and the team played really well together. Our biggest achievement of the season was winning the championship of the Centralia Basketball Invitational. Overall, this team is a great group of kids who gave their best effort every night. It was definitely a season to be proud of.” - coach Hunter Engle

Mexico seventh-grade boys

“We started the season slow this year losing our first five games. After starting 0-5, we finished our season 6-8 overall. The boys really brought it on the defensive end and continued to get better every game. Starting the season like that makes it hard to stay motivated, but they stayed with it and put in the work. I was happy with them for not giving up and trying to get better. That’s hard to do in middle school with a busy schedule and most weeks you have more games than practices.” - coach Logan Schlemmer

Mexico seventh-grade and eighth-grade girls

“The Mexico Middle School girls basketball team wrapped up a season full of growth and determination. While the win-loss record didn’t always go our way, the girls showed significant improvement in their fundamentals, teamwork, and confidence.

“Throughout the season, our girls faced tough competition but rose to the challenge. Their progress on the court was matched by their growth as teammates, setting the stage for future success.

“We’re proud of the strides made this year and are eager to see even more girls join the program next season.” - seventh-grade coach Chaz Baker and eighth-grade coach Becca Bates

Community R-6 junior high boys

“We had a pretty good season this year. Our record was 8-8. We started off the season with the junior high Central Activities Conference tournament with two losses to pretty good Slater and Cairo teams and with the Slater loss going into overtime. We had a few games get away from us that I thought we should have won, but that is the game of basketball. 

“We had a great group of guys this year that were fun to work with. We will be losing a lot of size after this year with the eighth-grade group, but we are still going to have a good group to work with and build on from this year because of the large team number we had on the roster this year. 

“I am looking forward to next year having a solid group of eighth graders moving up to the high school team as freshmen, and as I said above, having a large junior high group means that we have a lot to work with to continue being successful.” - coach Kody Asquith

Community R-6 junior high girls

“We progressively improved throughout the course of the season. Our team consists of sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders, and our competition is mostly eighth-grade teams. The sixth- and seventh-graders played valuable minutes and will contribute to our program. The eighth-graders — Ana McLeod, Hailey Schmidt, and Natali Sommer — will add depth to the high school program next year. They have had to adapt and play different roles throughout their junior high years, and that will benefit them in their high school careers.” coach Stacie Carroz