For most of the season, the Van-Far girls have relied on senior and leading scorer Mara Jensen for offense.

Van-Far vs Wright City Photo Gallery

The Lady Indians comfortably could rely on two post players as McKenna Engh-Hoffman led with 26 points, 12 rebounds and three steals and Jensen had 20 points and 14 rebounds in a 58-49 victory Monday at home against Eastern Missouri Conference for Wright City.

Van-Far (6-18, 2-7 EMO) built a 50-27 lead at one point in the fourth quarter after a Katelyn Sutton 3-pointer — her second of the game to finish with six points. Head coach Heather Minter said it all started in the post as Jensen and Engh-Hoffman displayed great interior passing to each other to keep the Lady Wildcats guessing.

“If they are focusing on Mara, McKenna’s just got to be able to step up and just play well,” Minter said. “McKenna played like I know she’s capable of playing.”

Engh-Hoffman said Minter has yelled at her throughout the season, which she appreciates because it shows how much belief Minter has in the junior and ultimately helps her have performances like on Monday.

“My coach pushes me every single game — no matter how well I do, I get yelled at — just because she sees what I cannot see,” Engh-Hoffman said.

Jensen took charge early into a 16-8 Van-Far lead at the end of the first quarter thanks to Jensen taking a rebound coast-to-coast prior to beating the buzzer.

Engh-Hoffman then had her best quarter in the second as she finished with 10 points and was two rebounds away from a double-double when the Lady Indians led 31-14. Jensen was close at that point as well at 14 points and eight rebounds.

Jensen is averaging a double-double at 18.1 points and 9.9 rebounds while Engh-Hoffman is second on team in rebounds with a 7.1 average. Engh-Hoffman said the future Columbia College player Jensen has been a great leader for the team, and at the very least, is someone to aspire to be.

“She’s pushed me a lot in practice, and she’s always talking me up in games,” Engh-Hoffman said. “It’s really nice especially because I know what she is going to become. I look up to her.”

Wright City (8-15, 1-8 EMO) had its scoring issues in the middle of the game. Van-Far rolled into halftime with a 31-14 lead and had a 16-1 run going until the Lady Wildcats scored their first field goal in about a quarter.

Jasmin Simpson finished with 26 points, nine rebounds and six steals to lead Wright decisively as Danika Graham was next in the box score with seven points. Simpson supplied the Lady Wildcats with seven points in the fourth quarter as they quickly trimmed their deficit down to single digits.

“She’s just a bulldog,” Minter said. “I wanted to keep her under (26 points), but she was able to get that. We tried to go box and 1 on her, but she is just that good and got her points. When they started making that run at the end, Mara was like, ‘I’ll take her’ so that helped us.”

Wright City was as close as 52-46 as it knocked down four 3-pointers in the fourth quarter after hitting one 3-pointer in the first three quarters. Madelynn Caldwell nailed a couple of free throws and then Engh-Hoffman and Jensen knocked some shots down at the line to seal the game.

“When they started hitting 3s, that’s when it got scary because they were hitting everything, no matter what,” Engh-Hoffman said. “Trying not to foul out but trying to be aggressive was really difficult. We still kept pushing for (the win).”

The Lady Indians have now won multiple games in a row for the first time this season after defeating Columbia Independent 58-9 at home on Feb. 8 — Jensen with 28 points and five rebounds, Engh-Hoffman with 15 points and eight rebounds, and Caldwell with seven steals.

Van-Far will have to focus on the playoffs soon in the Class 2 District 5 Tournament, following its Thursday conference matchup in Clopton, as it has the No. 5 seed in the first round at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 21 against Sturgeon (6-16) in Sturgeon.

“They’ve got guards, and a big thing for us is going to be handling their press,’ Minter said. “If we can get it past half court, we’ll be successful.”