Though the score may not have reflected it, the Wright City girls basketball team made positive strides in its loss in the Orchard Farm Basketball Tournament Monday. 

The host school defeated the Wildcats, 60-20, in the first round.

The loss put Wright City in the consolation bracket of the tournament to face Brentwood Wednesday in Orchard Farm. De Soto downed Brentwood in an early game on Monday. 

After Orchard Farm took a quick 4-0 lead early in the first quarter, Wright City got a basket from Alyssa Hart to cut the lead in half. On the next trip down the floor, senior Kia Campbell drove inside and drew the foul, then hit her second free throw to cut the lead to 4-3.

The Orchard Farm defense attacked with a three-quarter court press that the Wildcats had trouble breaking at times, forcing 10 turnovers in the first quarter. Meanwhile, the Eagles’ offense went on a 10-0 run that was capped by a 3-pointer from Jamie Hopkins. 

By the middle of the second quarter, two Wright City starters were on the bench because of foul trouble. Wright City Head Coach Ashley Moore said her team needs to do a better job of taking care of the basketball and playing smarter defense.

“A lot of that is just talking about the successes we are having and, of course, taking care of the ball. We often broke the press pretty easily and then we got into some foul trouble and so we had to change out some personnel,” Moore said. “It was almost like hot potato in how fast we tried to get rid of the ball and getting settled with the ball and up the court.”

Turnovers continued to plague the Wildcats going into the second quarter, while Hopkins was just warming up for Orchard Farm. The junior scored 12 of her game-high 22 points in the first half. 

Moore was pleased with her team’s effort to defend one of the better guards in the Gateway Athletic Conference North in the second half.

“She (Hopkins) is a great player and we knew coming in that we didn’t want her to beat us. We were able to hold her under her average today, so that’s a win for us,” Moore said. “You know, forcing them to take some shots or allowing them to take some shots that were probably not the best in shot selection, I’ll let them take those shots all day long because it means that we aren’t giving them better options.”

Wright City shot just under 20 percent from the field in the first half while the Orchard Farm connected on 11-of-15 attempts from the floor.

The Wildcats had a bit more success taking advantage of open looks down low in the second half. 

Jada Hunter drove to the hoop and drew the foul to open the second half, and was able to sink one of her free throws. On the next trip down the floor, the senior nailed a 3-pointer. Hunter paced Wright City with six points in the game.

The defense stepped up in the second half as well, forcing five Orchard Farm turnovers. 

Moore said the better second half is something the Wildcats can build on in a tough December stretch, which includes matchups with district foes Community and Montgomery County.

“We’ve had some adversity and it is what it is,” Moore said. “But we’ve got to fight through it and I think there was a point in the second quarter where we almost broke down and kind of stopped playing for a minute. But then toward the end of the quarter we kind of relaxed and figured it out and we found some success.”

For Wright City, Campbell and Aryan Reinhold had four points each. Campbell and freshman Peyton Hart also pulled down four rebounds. 

For Orchard Farm, Julie Johnston finished the game with 15 points.