Two days before her Montgomery County girls basketball team began playing in the Hermann Invitational Basketball Tournament, Carson Flake had a personal Saturday workout with coach Joe Basinger.

“We talked about certain things that I needed to work on and be more confident,” the MCHS junior said.

The workout definitely helped. Flake turned in her best effort of the season at the eight-team Hermann tournament, scoring 32 points in three games and helping the Wildcats capture a consolation championship.

Flake scored in double figures in all three games, including a 10-point effort in MCHS’ 54-44 win over the Liberty Christian Academy Eagles in the consolation championship game on Jan. 28.

“I’m proud of Carson,” Basinger said. “She and I had several conversations. I knew she had this kind of week in her. She had this kind of basketball in her.”

The Wildcats, the No. 4 seed, won the Hermann consolation title for the second year in a row. MCHS started its tournament play on Jan. 24 with a 49-45 loss to fifth-seeded Battle in a first-round game before bouncing back to beat eighth-seeded St. Clair in the consolation semifinals and seventh-seeded Liberty Christian in the consolation championship game.

The Wildcats also won their second consolation tournament title this season. They captured the South Callaway Tournament consolation crown on Jan. 14. Earlier in the year, MCHS finished second in its own tournament.

Basinger said he was happy that his team earned hardware in all three regular season tournaments it played in.

“It’s all preparation for districts,” the MCHS coach said. “We’re playing tough competition here. We got to the championship game (at MCHS) earlier in the year to get that championship experience. Having a young team that we did, we went through growing pains. But all in all, it’s all preparation for the last tournament of the year. Hopefully, what we’ve done to this point will prepare us for that tournament.”

Sophomore Maddy Queathem was the Wildcats’ leading scorer in the Hermann tournament with 47 points, including 18 against Liberty Christian. She hit five 3-pointers, sharing the school record mark with Anna Henke. She also tied the tournament record for most treys with 11.

With the Wildcats leading 28-27 late in the third quarter, Queathem started a 10-0 run by hitting back-to-back 3-pointers.

“Maddy has been a really good presence from the 3-point line for us,” Basinger said.

Sophomore Malia Rodgers earned first-team all-tournament honors after scoring 35 points in three games.

Basinger said he was impressed with the Liberty Christian’s effort. The Wright City school stormed to a 6-0 lead. The Eagles led 26-25 late in the third quarter before the Wildcats came back to win the game.

“Liberty is a good basketball team,” Basinger said. “They’re super athletic, they’re long and they have some girls who could handle the basketball. They have some girls who could shoot and score. It was a good test.”

Flake scored eight of her points in the fourth quarter against Liberty Christian. She finished with 10 points against Battle and 12 against St. Clair.

Basinger said during the Saturday workout on Jan. 22, he told her that she’s capable of becoming an offensive threat.

“I said, ‘You’re very capable of scoring 8-10 points a night,’” Basinger said. “She was like, ‘Nah.’ I said, ‘Think about it, kid. Can you get one basket a quarter?’ She was like, ‘Yeah, I can do that.’”

Now, Flake is hoping to help the Wildcats finish with another winning season. MCHS took an 11-6 record into its home game against Van-Far on Feb. 1.

“I really expect us to keep our record with no losses in conference and win conference again,” Flake said. “Those are my big expectations. We hope we don’t go downhill at all from where we’re at now.”