The Wright City girls earned the No. 7 seed in next week’s Clopton Tournament and will face Monroe City in the first round.

The Wildcats (2-5) have lost two straight games heading into the tournament.

Monroe City is 6-3 and has won two straight, and Wright City Head Coach Fred Ross expects a fast-paced game Tuesday at 5:30 p.m.

“They will probably come out and press us in that little gym,” Ross said. “So we will see how we handle it.”

The Panthers are led by freshman forward Jada Summers, who averages 17.8 points, 11.6 rebounds and 3.9 steals per game.

She had a season-high 23 points in her last outing, a 60-31 win over Van-Far Dec. 12.

Monroe City averages 53.1 points and 13.9 steals, and will try to turn the Wildcats over early in Tuesday’s game.

Senior guard Savannah Bridges leads Wright City into the tournament after averaging 9.9 points and 6.7 rebounds through seven games.

Wright City will look to contain Summers in a zone defensively, while finding space to score against the press.

“That gym is hard to play in because it’s so small,” Ross said. “When you play teams that press, it makes it  that much harder because there’s no room or angles to get open.”

If Wright City can’t pull off the upset, Ross expects to see Louisiana in the second round, which beat Wright City in the first game of the season, 48-31.

Junior guard Amy Janowski led the Wildcats with 12 points in the loss, and sophomore forward Alyssa Hart finished with seven.

The Louisiana guards controlled most of the game, but Ross expects a better performance from his backcourt should the teams meet Wednesday night.

Clopton, the host school, was given the No. 1 seed and will face Wellsville Monday night in a meeting of Eastern Missouri Conference teams.

Other EMO conference teams include No. 4 Silex and No. 5 Elsberry, which meet Monday at 7 p.m.

Ross hopes to scout the teams in his conference while earning a third game in the tournament.

“You’re only guaranteed two games, so we need to get a win somewhere to get that third game,” Ross said. “You always go in there trying to win a game, and if we win two, that’s a good tournament.”

Ross hopes the Clopton Tournament will propel his team into the second half and the heart of conference action. Clopton and Bowling Green appear to be the favorites in the EMO, and Wright City will look to sophomores Abbey Jaspering (4.6 points) and Jada Hunter (4.4) to help Bridges and Janowksi in the second half.

“We just want to compete with those conference schools,” Ross said.

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Monday, Jan. 4

Game 1 — No. 1 seed Clopton vs. No. 8 Wellsville, Monday, 5:30 p.m., New Gym

Game 2 — No. 4 Silex vs. No. 5 Elsberry, Monday, 7 p.m., New Gym

Game 3 — No. 2 Monroe City vs. No. 7 Wright City, Monday 5:30 p.m., Old Gym

Game 4 — No. 3 Winfield vs. No. 6 Louisiana, Tuesday, 7 p.m., Old Gym

 Wednesday, Jan. 6

Game 6 — Clopton/Wellsville winner vs. Silex/Elsberry winner, 5:30 p.m., New Gym

Game 7 — Clopton/Wellsville loser vs. Silex/Elsberry loser, 5:30 p.m., Old Gym

Game 8 — Monroe City/Wright City winner vs. Winfield/Louisiana winner, 7 p.m., New Gym

Game 9 — Monroe City/Wright City loser vs/ Winfield/Louisiana loser, 7 p.m., Old Gym

 Friday, Jan. 8

Consolation Championship — 4:30 p.m., New Gym

Third-Place Game — 6 p.m., New Gym

Championship — 7:30 p.m., New Gym

RUNNING THE POINT — Amy Janowski dribbles past an Elsberry defender Dec. 14.          Kory Carpenter photo.