The Mexico girls needed some spark on Saturday.

Gary Filbert Classic Photo Gallery

The Lady Bulldogs had just that from Claire Hudson in the third quarter against Van-Far in the 13th annual Gary Filbert Classic in Mexico, when she drained four 3-pointers in the third to give Mexico a 33-32 lead after three and eventually a 48-34 victory. Hudson earned the MVP award after finishing with 22 points, nine steals, seven rebounds and five 3-pointers.

Mexico head coach Makenzie Mudd said Hudson is a great shooter “all the time” but is also a shooter that can go on hot streaks when she knocks down one shot. Hudson seemed to be in the zone after that first make because then she gained separation with step-back moves that placed her further behind the 3-point line but still gave the Lady Bulldogs (4-6) further momentum.

“Once she gets a few, she gets that energy up and she gets that desire to keep going,” Mudd said. “Everybody else feeds off that energy, and that’s what happened. Everybody else was excited and made her feel comfortable and say, ‘Yeah, I can shoot another one.’ She was confident enough to take the shots, and that’s why a lot of them go in.”

Van-Far head coach Heather Minter said she was pleased how her team played defense all game since Van-Far (1-7) was involved in a back and forth battle with Mexico. The Lady Indians took a 24-21 lead with about five minutes left in the third quarter after an Elliott Utterback bucket with a foul. But, there is only so much a defense can do about a case like Hudson’s.

“We knew coming in she was the kid to watch, but I didn’t expect her to open up like that,” Minter said. “Her just hitting those five 3s, it killed us. When a player’s hot, a player’s hot.”

Hudson’s outburst was a welcome sight after Mudd said Mexico’s first half and beyond was marred by shots not falling. The Lady Bulldogs even went into the Classic with a smaller roster that continued to shrink, basically, due to Kylie Burnett being out due to a concussion, Hannah Loyd being out of town and Karlee Sefrit picking up her fourth foul early in the game.

Mudd said Mexico did well to play through these obstacles and had enough players to step up to fill the void. Jo Thurman 11 points, five rebounds and four assists and Landri Teel had eight points and eight rebounds her first career varsity start.

“I know (Teel) was a little nervous, but she did a great job of settling down and feeding off of everybody else’s energy too,” Mudd said. “With (Karlee’s) experience, it hurt to sit her for so long. When we put her back in, she was able to calm down and make smart choices to stay in the rest of the game.”

Teel scored six points in the fourth quarter in which Mexico outscored Van-Far 15-2 thanks largely to pressure that turned into turnovers. Thurman handled the ball a lot in the fourth and scored seven points in the eight minutes.

Van-Far is starting four freshmen in its starting lineup this season as the program rebuilds and had some of those freshmen end with solid games. Utterback led with 10 points, five rebounds and three steals, and Chloe Zumwalt had eight points, 13 rebounds and two blocks, leading Minter to say it was Zumwalt’s best night since her 12 points, 12 rebound and two blocks at South Callaway. Mylee Keller added a couple of 3-pointers, and Kenya Jones pulled down six rebounds.

“We knew we wanted to press,” Mudd said. “We wanted to take advantage of the fact that they have some inexperience. Claire, Jo and Grace (Hudson) did a great job for most of the game getting stops and forcing traps.”

Minter said experience played a factor as Van-Far knows it will be a struggle this season. She said they preach energy and effort and improvement from game to game, which she saw in the Classic.

“We’re taking steps in the right direction,’ Minter said. “I was proud of the way our kids played on the road and felt like we played a full four quarters. When we would make an adjustment to when backdoor was killing us, we left our post at home to stop that and then (Claire Hudson) started hitting at the elbow. It was just one of those games where our kids are freshmen playing, and we got to understand the game.”

Mudd said Mexico embraced the “teamwork side” of defense and hope that continues the rest of the season.

“Overall, our rotations were really good, and we were there to help each other out and get big stops when we needed them,” Mudd said.