The Mexico girls can’t rush offense or to panic after a Dec. 17 loss.

Mexico vs Kirksville Photo Gallery

The Lady Bulldogs have much speed and athleticism this season but was on the losing end of a 52-49 home game that went down to the final second against North Central Missouri Conference and district foe Kirksville. Mexico tied the game at 49 with 37.6 seconds left in the game, but three straight turnovers put the team back behind.

Head coach Makenzie Mudd said Mexico (4-4, 1-1 NCMC) wants to play faster and benefitted from doing so sometimes during the game. However, moving too fast before a play develops can lead to mistakes. 

"We do like to play faster, but we also need to know when to slow down and try to make something happen," Mudd said. "In the fourth quarter, we weren't running what we're supposed to run. We were panicking and trying to rush to get opportunities that weren't there instead of waiting for what was going to be there."

Grace Hudson stole the ball and found Scottie Smith for an open layup at the rim. Hudson and Smith each scored 15 points while Hudson also had four steals and three 3-pointers and Smith had six rebounds. That was a quick play that went right.

Alyssa Miller picked up a defensive rebound and then Mexico called timeout, only for the Lady Bulldogs to give the ball back to Kirksville (3-2, 1-0 NCMC) trying to inbound the ball. The Lady Tigers were fouled and made 3-of-4 free throws to put the Lady Bulldogs in the position of taking a last-second 3-pointer. 

"We were trying to rush the ball inbounds instead of running the play that we drew up," Mudd said. "They were reading it every time."

Mexico rattled off a 9-0 run and then Kirksville matched the pace with an 11-0 run before halftime to put the Lady Bulldogs behind 28-26. The run grew to 16-0 until Claire Hudson knocked down a 3-pointer. 

It can be a delicate balance when it comes to running a fast offense, and Mudd said it takes certain elements to execute well. Mexico needs to avoid “panicking and trying to rush to get opportunities that weren’t there instead of waiting for what was going to be there.”

“Communication needs to be there,” Mudd said. “We called out plays and then I felt we rushed to start it rather than wait for everybody to get where they needed to be to start the play. It was a lot of ‘let’s go, let’s go, let’s go’ but people weren’t in starting spots yet so then there was confusion.”

Claire Hudson has been Mexico’s leading scorer this season and last season and plans to play college basketball at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Hudson was effective as a facilitator as she was ironically short of a triple-double in the points column with nine points. She had 10 rebounds and 10 assists, showing off her arm with football-style passes down court.

“Most teams know she is our go-to scoring person for scoring so they’re doing a better job of putting their fastest and best defenders on her to slow her down,” Mudd said. “We knew that was coming, and everybody else has to be prepared to pick up that slack and do their part if she can’t be a consistent scorer.”

Mudd said Mexico needs to rebound consistently to avoid “shooting ourselves in the foot.” The Lady Bulldogs allowed Kirksville to have too many offensive rebounds in the third quarter as Mudd said they were caught “ball watching.” Chloe Carter led Kirksville with 13 points and seven rebounds, Paishynce Fouts had 10 points and six rebounds and Alia Puckett finished with 10 points and eight rebounds.

Making a mistake at the worst time or missing out on a few rebounds can make a big difference in the conference this season, Mudd said. With the result against Kirksville, Mexico has split the last four games with the Lady Tigers each by a margin of less than 10 points. More conference games have the chance to be decided in a similar way this season so Mudd said the Lady Bulldogs can’t panic.

“This game could have easily gone the other way. Just take out our silly mistakes,” Mudd said. “I don’t think we’re in trouble by any means in conference. There’s a lot of teams that are at the same level of competition. A lot of games could go either way so it depends how we show up and how bad we want it.”

Mexico 66 Hannibal 57

Mexico shook off Tuesday’s tough loss to knock off a state-ranked Class 5 team on the road on Thursday.

The Lady Bulldogs won 66-57 at North Central Missouri Conference foe Hannibal (6-2, 2-1 NCMC), securing the win thanks partly to some key free throws from Payton Shaw, according to head coach Makenzie Mudd. Claire Hudson led Mexico (5-4, 2-1 NCMC) with 20 points, eight rebounds and five 3-pointers, Grace Hudson had 18 points and six rebounds, and Scottie Smith had nine points and 12 rebounds. 

“We came out aggressive and never stopped fighting from start to finish,” Mudd said. “We went on a few runs and then Hannibal closed the gap, but I was proud of how we fought back to secure the win. The bench energy was a key for us to keep everyone on the floor going.”

After the break, Mexico plays at conference rival Fulton (1-6, 0-2 NCMC) at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 7.