Coach Butch Clark was hoping for a sweep against county opponents this season, but he will have to settle for a split. The Liberty Christian girls made a dominant statement last Friday, routing Wright City 67-39 less than two weeks after getting dismantled by Warrenton. The Eagles retained the Mayor’s Cup for a third straight year, since the inception of the rivalry. 

“There’s no question we wanted to beat Wright City,” said Clark. “We wanted to beat Warrenton last week too, but they outplayed us. We had our opportunity though.”

In a stark contrast to its loss against the Warriors, Liberty Christian raced out to a 16-3 advantage, imposing its will early. 

“Our press caused them a lot of trouble, and we were confident it could,” said Clark. “Then we got away from it.”

Trailing by eight going into the second period, Wright City went on a run of its own, cutting the gap to 25-22 by halftime.

“When the first quarter got over I was pleased with our effort,” said Wright City Coach Dan Friedel. “In the second quarter we did a better job of taking care of the ball.”

“We had started having poor shot selection and lost a couple times on defense,” said Clark. “We lost our focus and got out of sync in the second quarter, and they outplayed us.”

Part of that success was sparked by the contribution of sophomore Jasmine Simpson, who scored many of her points off the fast break in the transition game.

“She’s a super-important piece of the team,” said Friedel. “She’s a threat to score just about every time she catches it. We’ve been struggling to put points on the board, so to have an offensive threat like that is a big help.”

Clark addressed his team’s woes at intermission, sparking a resounding response during that final two quarters. 

“We played great in the second half,” said Clark. “We had a few turnovers and things you can always pick a part. A lot of that had to do with kids who didn't have very good first halves.”

Junior Adison Roden began to take over underneath the basket, scoring the bulk of her 21 points and grabbing 12 boards during the second half.

“Adison was pretty nonexistent in the first half, but she dominated the second half,” said Clark. “She cleaned up and did a good job.”

The Eagles led 45-28 after three quarters, with freshman Sophie Mueller going 5 of 10 from the three-point line en route to 16 points. Junior Andrea Mueller added 16 points and eight rebounds.

“We came out in the third quarter and let it snowball on us,” said Friedel. “I’ve got to do a better job of instilling some mental toughness into our team and not let one mistake turn into two.”

Liberty Christian improved to 17-5, while the Wildcats dropped to 1-7 on the season.

“When the speed of the game picks up, sometimes we struggle with adapting and making changes on the fly,” said Friedel. “That’s something to be expected with younger kids.”

Wright City will face Bourbon on Friday, while the Eagles host Mid-Missouri Home School on Monday.