For the first time since the Bill Clinton administration, the Montgomery County girls basketball team won a title in its own tournament.

The Wildcats captured their first Montgomery County Invitational Tournament crown since 1997 after cruising past the Hermann Bearcats 73-47 in the championship game on Dec. 2 at Ballew & Snell Court. MCHS also won its fifth tournament title overall.

Minutes after the game, the senior class of Claire Cobb, Madi Polston, Maddy Queathem, Malia Rodgers and Olivia Shaw got to hoist the championship trophy. The group joined legendary MCHS seniors that played on Montgomery County tournament championship teams in the past such as Erica Daume – who is the program’s all-time leading scorer with 1,300 points – and Angela Mahaney – who is ranked first all-time in blocked shots with 198.

“They’ve been a big part of the team the last three years,” MCHS coach Joe Basinger said. “Three of them started when they were sophomores and juniors. Claire and Madi came off the bench for us the last two years. They were our first couple of kids off the bench. Those five have put a lot of time in with me and through the summers doing stuff. It was cool to see them get over that hump because I know they wanted it really bad.”

All five seniors started against Hermann and combined to score 54 points in the title game. Queathem led the way with 22 points with five 3-pointers, earning a spot on the all-tournament team. Rodgers finished with 17 points and was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player for the second year in a row. Cobb finished with seven points and Polston and Shaw each had four.

Polston said the tournament title was special to the senior class.

“It feels really good because we’ve been playing together for so long,” she said. “We just know how each other plays. I think we have really good team chemistry. We know what each other is going to do. We just play really well together.”

The Wildcats finished second in the tournament in each of the last two years. In 2022, they fell to Hermann 32-31 on a last-second shot.
Queathem said she was thrilled that the third time was the charm for her team this year.

“It’s a big accomplishment,” she said. “We’ve been here many times and it feels good to finally win. It sucked in the past getting to this game and not having it the way you want it to, but it’s nice to finally accomplish that this year.”

The top-seeded Wildcats began tournament play on Nov. 27 with a 58-27 win over Bowling Green in the first round. They beat Clopton 51-34 in the semifinals two nights later.

In the championship game, the Wildcats stormed to a 21-2 lead and never looked back.

“I didn’t expect that,” Basinger said. “I know our girls can really overwhelm some people with the way we play defense. We have a lot of team speed. I know we’re capable of runs like that. But in this atmosphere against a team like that, you don’t ever expect to come out and go on a 21-2 run.”

MCHS has hosted the tournament since 1981 and finished in the top three 13 times. The tournament has been dominated by Hermann and Mexico as both schools have 12 titles apiece.

“It’s a really fun beginning of the year tournament to kick off the season,” Basinger said.

The Wildcats improved to 4-0 with the win over Hermann. They were scheduled to play a home game against California on Dec. 5.

“We’re starting off the season pretty strong,” Queathem said. “I’m really excited for this season, especially with this group of girls.”

Junior Aliviah Fischer scored 13 points in the championship game against Hermann.