A year ago, the Montgomery County girls basketball team saw its five-year reign as Eastern Missouri Conference champions come to an end.

This year, the Wildcats are hoping to get back to the top of the EMO after getting off to a slow start. 

MCHS improved to 2-1 in EMO play after beating the North Callaway Thunderbirds 49-27 on Jan. 6 on the road. The Wildcats won their second straight conference game after starting their league play on Dec. 15 with a loss to Silex. 

“It was pretty good,” MCHS junior Kaylee Daume said. “We thought it was going to be a tough game because they had some bigger girls, but I think we held our own.”

MCHS has seven conference games remaining. The Wildcats’ next league game will be on Jan. 20 against Bowling Green at home. They also have contests against Wright City (Jan. 22), Van-Far (Feb. 2), Clopton (Feb. 5), Mark Twain (Feb. 10), Louisiana (Feb. 12) and Elsberry (Feb. 16).

Last winter, the Wildcats finished in a tie for second with Elsberry and Louisiana at 8-2. They were in contention for the EMO title until their final week of the regular season, when they dropped back-to-back conference games to Elsberry and eventual champion Clopton. MCHS’ 59-game winning streak in conference play was also snapped last year.

The 53-46 loss to Silex last month marked the first time since 2014 the Wildcats began conference play with a loss. But they bounced back with a 53-9 win over Wellsville-Middletown on Dec. 19 and the road win over North Callaway.

“It was a pretty rough game (against Silex), but I feel like we have gotten better since then,” Daume said. “(Against North Callaway), we proved that.”

Currently, Louisiana (3-0) and Clopton (2-0) are the only teams without a loss in conference play, while the other teams have one loss or more. MCHS is tied for third with Silex at 2-1 in the league standings.

MCHS coach Joe Basinger said he still has high hopes for his team in conference play despite the loss to Silex.

“We dropped that one to Silex that we shouldn’t have dropped,” he said. “I still think we just have to continue to improve every night and take one game at a time because you never know what may happen. We all know the road goes through Clopton. Clopton is extremely good this year. It’s who they are.”

Against North Callaway, the Wildcats were trailing 13-12 late in the second quarter before going on an 11-0 run to take a 22-12 lead they would never relinquish.

“It’s always good when you can go on the road in conference and get a win,” Basinger said. “I thought our girls really played well. It was an extremely physical game and I thought they handled their composure well and we made a lot of good plays.”

Sophomore Emma Rodgers scored a game-high 23 points, including nine during that 11-0 run in the second quarter. Daume and junior Aubrey Janes each had nine points. Juniors Reese Hill and Reaghan Hemeyer and freshmen Abbigail Knoepflein and Jordan Finke had two points apiece.

Basinger said he was impressed with Daume’s effort. She hit a three-pointer in the third quarter.

“Kaylee is a kid I can be proud of and can be so frustrated with,” Basinger said. “She knows that. She has put in a lot of time in this. She played in the fall league all fall with Emma and Aubrey up at Columbia and she never missed a morning workout all fall.”

The Wildcats returned five players – including Daume, Rodgers and Janes – from last year’s team that finished at 15-12. MCHS is looking to finish with its ninth straight winning season this winter.

“We still have some kinks to work out, but I still have a ton of high hopes for these kids,” Basinger said. “They do things the right way. They’re great kids and they work hard. We’re just going to continue to try to put them in situations to be successful, try to keep coaching them up and see what we can accomplish.”