After a slow start on both sides of the ball, the Wright City girls basketball team’s defense gave itself a shot to crawl back into the game against Silex on Monday in the opening round of the Clopton Invitational. 

Unfortunately, the offense didn’t follow suit in the 43-13 loss. The loss put the Wildcats in the consolation bracket of the invite to face Louisiana on Wednesday. Louisiana — the seventh seed in the tournament — dropped its opening round game against Monroe City. Wright City entered the tournament as the sixth seed.

Silex – the tournament’s third seed — takes on Monroe City in the winner’s bracket.

That same defense, that held everyone in check for Silex, including forwards Allison Harmon and Halle Mueller, did not have an answer for senior guard Ellie Boothe. Boothe led all scorers in the game with 19 points. Boothe came away with five steals, which she converted to easy lay-ins. 

Despite the strong performances defensively in spurts, Head Coach Fred Ross said his team needs to work on consistency.

“We did not have a good situation with size tonight,” Ross said. “We were missing Abigail Jaspering because of an injury so we had to move people around. Our defense is not consistent enough. We need to be able to play the whole game, not just small bursts.”

Boothe helped the Owls jump out to a 14-2 lead in the first quarter with six points off of steals.

Despite the significant size advantage down low for Silex, Wright City’s Kailyn Gudermuth held her own defensively, holding both Harmon and Mueller to four points total.

The Silex defense also caused issues for the Wildcats all night. After a tough first quarter, and freshman Amanda Turner’s basket to open the second quarter, Wright City’s offense didn’t convert opportunities into points until late in the second quarter. Sophomore guard Lily Sargent got a pair of free throws to fall to make the score 24-6.

Silex shot 50 percent from the field in the first half, most of the success coming in the first quarter. 

The Wright City defense clamped down on Silex in the third quarter, forcing six turnovers with a three-quarter-court pressure. The Owls converted on just three opportunities from the floor in the third quarter.

The Wildcats began driving through the lane and drawing the foul and got some help from seniors Amy Janowski and Erin Tomschin. Each hit buckets in the third quarter. Janowski finished the game with four points for Wright City.

Janowski also pulled down a pair of rebounds.

Ross said the Wildcats were simply not consistent enough on either side of the ball.

“Our girls were not sticking to our game plan of moving the ball in and then out for drive opportunities,” he said. “In the second half we did that and got some good chances.”

For Silex, senior Sydney Kruger chipped in five points.

Against Louisiana and for the remainder of the season, Ross said the team needs to concentrate on being consistent and clamping down defensively.

“We will focus on our defense and scoring,” he said. “We just seem to miss our first couple of shots and turn the ball over early and that throws us off our game plan.”

After wrapping up the Clopton Invitational on Friday, the Wildcats host Community on Tuesday.