Wright City beat Mark Twain Monday night to earn their first conference win of the season. 

Wright City (7-11) cruised to a 69-52 conference win over Mark Twain Monday night. Jasmin Simpson scored 39 points to lead Wright City to the conference win. Danika Graham also reached double figures. She scored 14 points for the Lady Wildcats. 

After taking a 16-11 lead into the second quarter, Wright City ended the second quarter on a 12-3 run to take a 37-22 lead into halftime. Simpson scored six points on the run. Graham and Shiriah McRoberts also scored three points on the 12-3 run to help Wright City take a double-digit lead into the half. 

“It was nice seeing the girls with the pressure taking care of the ball,” Wright City girls basketball coach Dustin Elledge said. “We had very low turnovers that first half. It was good to see.” 

Wright City used a 15-4 run in the third quarter to lead by as many as 22 points in the second half. Mark Twain ended the quarter on a 9-0 run to trim the Wright City lead to 52-39. 

With a sizable lead in the final quarter, the Lady Wildcats were still looking to run their offense and score, while also utilizing the clock to their advantage. 

“We don’t want to be too complacent. We still want to be aggressive,” Elledge said. “But make sure we’re not turning the ball over. Make sure we’re having nice, strong passes. If we have good looks, then we take those good looks. Definitely the mindset is now let’s try to bring it out and actually move the ball and make sure we have a very good look before we settle.”

After struggling offensively in their 55-36 loss to St. Charles last week, Elledge liked the Lady Wildcats’ offensive approach in their win over Mark Twain. 

“Compared to our last game where we shot like 30 three-pointers, there was definitely a switch in what happened,” Elledge said. “I’d rather see us driving and looking for our inside paint shots.” 

Wright City is scheduled to play at Silex Thursday. They will host North Callaway at 7 p.m. Monday.