The MVP awards continue to pile up for Malia Rodgers.

The Montgomery County senior was selected as the South Callaway Tournament’s top player after helping her team win its first tournament title in 32 years. The Wildcats knocked off North Callaway 61-45 in the South Callaway tournament championship game on Jan. 13.

Rodgers finished with 17 points in the finals to earn her second tournament MVP of the season and her fourth overall. She was voted MVP at the Montgomery County Invitational Tournament in each of the last two years and selected the top player at the Class 3, District 7 tournament at South Callaway last winter.

“She’s the heart and soul of this team,” MCHS coach Joe Basinger said. “We go as she goes. She will be the first to tell you that she can’t do it by herself. She loves her teammates. All she wants to do is see how far the fifth group can go. I’m really proud of her. She puts in so many hours that deserve to be recognized.”

Rodgers said she was thrilled that her team finally came out on top at South Callaway in her senior year. The Wildcats finished second in the tournament in Rodgers’ freshman and junior seasons.

“Coming out and doing what we know how to do is just awesome,” said Rodgers, who was named on the South Callaway all-tournament teams in 2021 and 2023. “We had high expectations going into the game and I feel like we executed very well.”

The Wildcats came back from a 9-5, first-quarter deficit to win the championship. They went on a 16-0 run that started in the middle of the first quarter and ended in the beginning of the second.

“I thought our girls settled in really well early,” Basinger said. “They had some points to prove and had a mission. They wanted to come out in this type of atmosphere and get after it. I thought they did. They went on a tear in the first quarter and they were doing a lot of really good things.”

Senior Maddy Queathem earned all-tournament honors after scoring 17 points with four 3-pointers against North Callaway. She was named on the all-tournament team for the second year in a row.

“Maddy really came out today with a mission and was playing extremely well,” Basinger said. “Maddy is such a compliment to Malia and they work so well together. They find each other. They do a lot of really good things. Malia deserves every honor she gets, but Maddy deserves a lot of credit, too.”

Senior Olivia Shaw was also named to the all-tournament squad. She finished with 14 points against the Thunderbirds.

MCHS, which was seeded first in the six-team tournament, cruised to a 61-35 win over Russellville in the semifinals on Jan. 11 to advance to the finals. With the win over third-seeded North Callaway, the Wildcats improved to 13-1.

MCHS won its second South Callaway title and its first since 1992. The 1992 squad, which had key players such as Jill River and Susan Henke, defeated New Bloomfield in the finals and went on to win 21 games.
Rodgers already has high hopes for this year’s squad, which won the MCHS tournament title in December.

“First, we need to practice because we had some snow days that interfere with that and keep progressing off of what we have already built,” Rodgers said. “I feel like we have a good thing going here and we need to keep moving forward. We need to keep working in the gym and keep making those big steps that are going to lead us to the end game.”

The Wildcats will compete in the Hermann Tournament, which starts on Jan. 22. They earned the No. 3 seed in that event and will play sixth-seeded New Haven in the first round.

“It’s going to be a super tough test,” Basinger said. “We don’t have a cupcake in the first round in New Haven. New Haven is a big physical team. They play the style that they play and they’re not going to waiver from it. We have to really be prepared and focused over these next couple of weeks going into it.”

MCHS defeated Bowling Green 55-17 in an EMO home game on Jan. 17. The Wildcats will play at Wright City on Jan. 18.