The Mexico girls refused to give up on Senior Night but couldn’t win their season finale.

The Lady Bulldogs trailed North Central Missouri Conference foe Hannibal 30-17 at halftime before thundering back with a stronger second half that wasn’t enough to avoid a 58-46 loss. Seniors Lexie Willer, Messiah Simpson, Capri’Ona Fountain and Kierstan Epperson were honored after the game during Senior Night festivities.

Head coach Ed Costley said he just didn’t think Mexico (9-17, 5-5 NCMC) didn’t play aggressive enough in the first half as it was in a 21-6 hole after the first quarter that didn’t shrink much in the second quarter, despite holding Hannibal (18-7, 7-3 NCMC) without a bucket until just south of three minutes. Claire Hudson knocked down the Lady Bulldogs’ first 3-pointer around that same time.

“In the second half, we did a better job of being more aggressive, getting to the middle but also attacking on the baseline side of it,” Costley said. “We got more paint opportunities and got to the free throw line more in the second half.”

Hannibal had a hot shooting start as the Lady Pirates knocked down five 3-pointers, including Kyliah French hitting three from beyond the arc off the bench. Hannibal was only able to hit two more 3-pointers in the final three quarters.

“In that first half, we just didn’t do a good job of keeping their dribbler out of the paint in the first quarter,” Costley said. “They hit two 3s (early in the first quarter) and those two 3s came off the dribble in the paint off kickouts. We did a better job in the second half of not giving them the easy kickouts.”

Costley said he liked how uncomfortable Mexico’s defense made Hannibal in the second half as the Lady Bulldogs came away with more steals. Mexico trailed 43-31 going into the fourth quarter but trimmed its deficit to eight points on two separate occasions. 

Claire Hudson led the Lady Bulldogs with 18 points, sinking three 3-pointers including a four-point play before the end of the third quarter. Willer led the team with three steals to go along with 10 points. Karlee Sefrit added eight points off the bench, and Fountain had a team-high eight rebounds.

Hannibal still had 11 different players score as its top three scorers of French with 14 points and four 3-pointers, Siena Minor with 11 points and seven rebounds, and Zaria Reese with eight points all came off the bench. 

“The matchups with Hannibal were difficult for us with our post players,” Costley said. “At the end, we were really rotating out with our guards and went smaller for us in our lineup. Sometimes, that hurts us with defensive rebounds, but we also had to match them on the defensive end and be able to handle their guard play.”

As for the team’s seniors, Costley said the four have been a solid group the last few years. He said they are “tight like sisters” and that “family connection” has meant much to the program. This includes Epperson, whose final season had to end after addressing a nagging hip injury that appeared prior to the basketball season.

“Messiah Simpson grew a lot as a player in energy and other ways,” Costley said. “It’s the same way with Capri’Ona. She’s always been that physical presence that we’ve always loved — everyone’s always afraid of in practice that she’s going to knock you over and wear you out. You hate to see that Kierstan wasn’t able to be out there on the floor, but we had an opportunity to recognize her in the lineup. Lexie Willer has always been key for us throughout the years, just bringing that grittiness we’ve always liked.”

Costley said he hopes the No. 6 Lady Bulldogs will be able to mount a quicker start at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday against No. 3 Hallsville (14-10) in the first round of the Class 4 District 8 tournament in Centralia. Mexico lost 64-30 to the Lady Indians back in January.

“I’m excited to see them again. We can do a better job against them,” Costley said. “For us. it’s been a whole thing all season. If we can get off to great starts, we’re usually in ballgames. That confidence builds and you feel like you can get it done.”