The Mexico girls have their biggest winning streak of the season after their third consecutive victory on Wednesday night. The Lady Bulldogs won 45-41 at district foe Hallsville, moving their record against district foes to 3-1 and their overall record to 8-9.
Mexico converted on 20-of-29 free throws and stole the ball away from Hallsville (4-9) 19 times to stay ahead of the Lady Indians despite allowing eight 3-pointers and 44 rebounds.
The Lady Bulldogs took their first lead with an 11-0 run to close the first quarter to go into the second quarter with a 17-7 lead. Claire Hudson led Mexico witha double-double of 20 points and 10 rebounds and also had four steals, only trailing Jo Thurman's nine and Grace Hudson's four.
"Our press really worked," Claire Hudson said. "We've come together well on the press the last couple games because last week we did really well and had lots of steals in those games too. When the other teams can't dribble, that's our go-to, and it's been working for us."
The Hudson sisters shot most of Mexico's free throws, with Claire going 7-for-10 from the line and Grace hitting 12-for-16. Grace Hudson had 14 points, and Hannah Loyd came down with eight rebounds to earn a lot of playing time in the second half.
"The girls that happened to be defending Grace at the end were the ones that were getting a little bit closer and getting those little touch fouls," head coach Makenzie Mudd said. "Claire was taking the ball into the paint a lot more. Jo was doing a good job of hitting them on the reverals so they could get those opportunities."
Mexico takes a 2-2 North Central Missouri Conference record into Friday's 6 p.m. home game against district foe Kirksville (6-6, 1-2 NCMC), who lost to the Lady Bulldogs 27-19 in Kirksville earlier this season.
Look for the full story in the Saturday, Jan. 20, 2024 edition of the Mexico Ledger.
