Two decades ago, Todd Cripe coached Joe Basinger for five years on the Van-Far basketball team.

Now, they’re coaching against each other in girls basketball. Basinger in his seventh season as Montgomery County coach, while Cripe in his fourth season as Wellsville-Middletown coach.

“We’ve been through some trials and tribulations through the years,” Cripe said. “We played against each other the last four years. I did like only two of them because I was in the hospital one time and I had the flu another time. So we coached each other twice and it should be a lot more than that.”

Cripe and Basinger coached against each other on Dec. 16 as MCHS and W-M squared off in the annual Montgomery County Pink Out game at the W-M gymnasium. Basinger and the Wildcats left W-M as winners as they came from behind to beat the Tigers 54-33.

After the game, Basinger got to reflect on how important Cripe was to his coaching career. Basinger has over 100 victories with six winning seasons and three Eastern Missouri Conference titles.

“He made me who I am today,” Basinger said. “I appreciate everything he has done for me.”

Cripe coached Basinger one year in junior high school basketball and four in high school basketball. In 2004, Cripe was the assistant coach, while Basinger was a senior on a Van-Far boys basketball team that won a Class 2 state title. Cripe was also Basinger’s head coach in football.

“He’s been a big influence in my life,” Basinger said.

Basinger coached the Wildcats to their 13th straight Pink Out victory. MCHS also improved to 6-2 overall and 2-0 in Eastern Missouri Conference play.

“Joe does a great job with his girls,” Cripe said. “Hopefully, they’ll buy into what he’s selling and what he’s preaching.”

After a month, the Wildcats allowed an average of 33 points per game. Basinger credits assistant coach John Klekamp for his team’s defensive efforts.

“He does a great job with our girls at the defensive end of the floor,” Basinger said.

Junior Maddy Queathem finished with a game-high 18 points to lead the Wildcats. She set a school record for most 3-pointers in a game with six.

Queathem hit her sixth trey with 3:45 left in the fourth quarter, forcing the game to be stopped so she could get a round of applause from the crowd. She broke the old mark of five that was set by her cousin – and current assistant coach – Anna Henke during the 2016-17 season.

Also for the Wildcats, junior Malia Rodgers scored 16 points, all of them came in the first half. Junior Olivia Shaw had seven points and senior Carson Flake and junior Morgan Koch each had six.

“I thought all of our girls played well tonight,” Basinger said.
Sophomore Indica Scott scored a season-high 17 points with two 3-pointers to lead the Tigers, who dropped to 3-4 overall and 0-1 in EMO play. She scored 12 of her points in the first half. A year ago, Scott scored 10 against MCHS.

“She’s really quick and she’s really fast,” Cripe said. “We just need to work on her handling a little bit of ball pressure and we have to work on her passing a little bit.”

W-M played with just seven girls against MCHS. Sophomore Hallie Guzy was unavailable due to illness.

The Tigers led 8-3 before the Wildcats rallied to pick up their third straight win. Tied at 13-13 late in the first quarter, MCHS went on a 17-0 run that carried into the second quarter and never trailed the rest of the way.