The Mexico Lady Bulldogs found their groove.

After dropping their home opener 55-47 to the Class 6 Battle Spartans on Nov. 23, they responded with wins over Wellsville-Middleton, New Haven and Montgomery County to claim the Montgomery County Invitational crown.

Then they handled North Central Missouri Conference foe Marshall in a 50-29 rout at home to improve to 4-1.

But head coach Ed Costley felt like his team could still improve.

Three-point shots weren’t falling as frequently as he’d hoped. He was curious how his team would handle pressure. He noticed his squad falling into lulls of passivity.

Mexico got a litmus test on Tuesday in a road conference clash with the Kirksville Lady Tigers, who also entered the contest 4-1. 

“We knew coming in that this game would really identify who we are, where we need to be better as a team and what direction we need to go,” said Costley.

It became clear that Costley’s concerns about his team weren’t unfounded.

“Kirksville came out and did what they wanted to do,” he said. “They pressured us, kept us out of rhythm and in the full court put pressure on us and didn’t let us settle down and get into space.”

The Lady Bulldogs converted just one free throw in the opening frame and trailed 8-1 to start the second quarter. Kirksville’s play certainly contributed to Mexico’s struggles, but Costley felt like his team just needed to be more assertive.

“We weren’t really attacking with the pass or dribble and getting what we wanted,” he explained. “We were moving the ball effectively; we just didn’t seem to have a plan and a process of what we wanted to do with it.”

Mexico began to right the ship in the second quarter, getting to the free-throw line eight times and converting on six attempts. They still trailed 15-11 at the break, but the flood gates opened in the third quarter.

The charge was led by a trio of seniors, as Riley Thurman scored eight of her game-high 16 points and Mya Miller and Taylor DeMint chipped in four apiece.

Freshman Claire Hudson also got in on the fun, knocking down a triple and two free throws.

“She doesn’t always have a lot of scoring,” Costley said of Hudson. “But she seems to just create things to change the momentum and tempo of the game. A lot of that comes from her aggressiveness on the defensive side and then being ready to attack. She was a key part of that and it just kind of changed how they were going to handle us.”

The Lady Bulldogs ended the third on a 21-11 run and wouldn’t look back.

After the third-quarter scoring binge and some different defensive looks, they were able to pull away for a 47-37 win to improve to 5-1 on the year.

Miller finished with 15 points, Hudson tallied six, DeMint finished with five and juniors Alexis Willer and Messiah Simpson chipped in three and two points, respectively.

The victory may have been extra special for some of Mexico’s returning players, as Kirksville ended their season last winter in the Class 5 District 15 Championship. Still, just six games into the 2021-22 campaign and with another matchup with Kirksville on the books for February, Costley downplayed the significance.

“I’m sure a couple of them were thinking back to that game,” he said. “But this game cannot be the only one we’re looking for. We’ve got a long season and we’ve got to just keep building and getting better every game.”

The Lady Bulldogs have shown steady progress, and the Missouri Basketball Coaches Association took notice, slotting Mexico in the No. 10 spot of the Class 4 State Rankings on Wednesday.