The Mexico girls caught Harrisburg in the third quarter on Monday, but the deficit kept growing with the clock stopped.

The Lady Bulldogs lost 66-56 to Harrisburg (7-0) at home after allowing Harrisburg to shoot 25-for-34 at the free throw line and convert at 10-for-12 rate from the line in the fourth quarter. Mexico (3-5) tied the game at 42 in the third quarter after a couple of free throws from Scottie Smith.

Head coach Makenzie Mudd said Lorelei Hunziker and Brette Ackman “killed us.” Hunziker finished with 30 points, 14 rebounds and four steals and Ackman had 24 points. Much of their points were earned at the free throw line, with Hunziker shooting 16-for-18 and Ackman shooting 3-for-6, making all of hers to seal the game in the fourth quarter.

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“We just have to move our feet better on defense,” Mudd said. “We were bailing them out. A lot of times, they weren’t in a great position, but we went ahead and fouled them anyway instead of moving our feet and making them take that difficult shot.”

The fouls create foul trouble which then turns into Mexico rotating players into different spots, Mudd said, and making the team play “off-balance.” 

Mexico wasn’t in a good position in the first half as it had to play from behind Harrisburg the entire half. The lead shrunk to five points but didn’t disappear until the third quarter.

“When we got behind, it was because we were making a lot of silly and little mistakes,” Mudd said. “We cleaned up those a few at a time and then going on those little runs and forcing stops on the defensive end is what really helped us come together by the end.”

Grace Hudson led Mexico (3-5) with 14 points, Alyssa Miller followed with 12 points and five assists, and Payton Shaw finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Miller has been Mexico’s leading scorer this season but had to work for her points on Monday. To counter that, Mudd said Mexico tried not to keep the ball in one place for too long.

“We talked about eliminating the dribbles and just swinging the ball faster,” Mudd said. “They ran that high 1-2-2 and really collapse on the ball. Alyssa drew a lot of defenders, so if we were able to draw the defenders to her, it opened up some other people.”

Shaw started this season on the bench but was in the starting lineup on Monday. In previous games, the junior has gathered a lot of rebounds and has reached double digits on the boards in a game. 

The matchup of Shaw against Harrisburg was too good to pass up, Mudd said. Shaw was rewarded with a start, and Mexico was rewarded by having a constant presence on the boards.

“She’s been working hard on the boards, specifically, and just getting in there and fighting for those rebounds,” Mudd said. “With her size and strength inside, I feel like we needed that powerhouse inside.”

The Lady Bulldogs begin the Windsor (Imperial) round robin tournament, starting at 12:30 p.m. Dec. 29 against St. Clair (3-0). Mexico then plays Charleston (6-4) on Dec. 30 and then Windsor (5-4) on Dec. 31 to wrap up the tournament.

Mudd said there might be some “varying starting lineups” depending on the opponent and how Mexico needs to match up with them. She liked how the team accomplished some things against Harrisburg.

“Breaking the pass was something we really worked on in practice, and they had to pull their press off because we were beating it,” Mudd said. “We were finding those opportunities for good passes through that defense that they had. We had a lot of turnovers, but we ended up finding a lot of good opportunities that will help us out in the long run.”