When Emma Rodgers stepped onto Ballew & Snell Court on Feb. 2 against the Van-Far Indians, all she wanted to do was help her Montgomery County girls basketball team bounce back from a disappointing loss to New Haven at the Hermann Tournament three days before.

Not only the MCHS sophomore helped her team pick up a win, but she accomplished a big milestone. She set a school-record for most points in a game after pouring in 37 in the Wildcats’ 51-37 win over Van-Far.

Rodgers broke the record when she hit two free throws with 1:25 to go in the game. Play was then stopped in order for Rodgers to be honored for her accomplishment.

“My first reaction was actually when (MCHS coach Joe) Basinger called a timeout, I thought he was really hyped because we were winning,” Rodgers said. “But then when I figured it out, I was like, ‘It was actually pretty cool.’”

Rodgers broke the old record of 36 that was set by Gina Gregory on Feb. 15, 1982 against Wright City. Gregory, who graduated from MCHS in 1982, is the Wildcats’ ninth-leading scorer with 1,016 pointers.

Just two weeks before, Rodgers finished with her first 30-point game of her high school basketball career after scoring 30 against Hermann in the third-place game of the South Callaway Tournament.

After her effort against Van-Far, Rodgers became the second person in her family to put her name in the record books. Her older sister, Malia, is the Wildcats’ all-time leading scorer. Malia, who graduated from MCHS in 2024, is now playing basketball at Truman State University.

“It’s really cool because when you go back and look at it, you can kind of remember all of the moments with your teammates, too,” Emma Rodgers said. “Fifteen years from now, if I look at the record, I’ll just remember the great season of my team. That’s really what I’m going to remember.”

Emma got a phone call from Malia after the game.

“She told me good job,” Emma said.

Emma scored five points in the first quarter, 10 in the second, 10 in the third and 12 in the fourth. She finished with five 3-pointers.

Rodgers said her team’s 37-30 loss to New Haven in the consolation finals of the Hermann Tournament was on her mind going into the contest against Van-Far. The Wildcats led by as many as 11 points in the third quarter, but ended up finishing with their lowest offensive output of the season.

“We all kind of had a little rage in us because we beat New Haven by quite a bit in the beginning of the season,” Rodgers said. “After that loss, we were ready to go and we were tired of it.”

The sophomore started off with a bang, hitting a 3-pointer just four seconds into the contest. By the end of the third-quarter, she was at the 30-point mark.

With 1:25 remaining in the game, Rodgers was fouled by a Van-Far junior Elliott Utterback while driving through the lane, earning her a trip to the free-throw line. She was at 35 points when she entered the charity stripe.

Rodgers said she didn’t think about the scoring record when she was at the free throw line.

“I didn’t know I was close at all,” she said.

Rodgers helped the Wildcats improve to 13-8 to two weeks remaining in their regular season. Three months ago, they got off to an 0-2 start.

“The way we’re performing, I feel like we’re doing a great job,” Rodgers said. “The finishing in games sometimes comes to a struggle. Other than that, I feel like we have a great group. We have a lot of people who hustle and a lot of people who want to be here. I just love it.”

The scoring record is part of Rodgers’ outstanding season that also included three all-tournament awards. She was named on the all-tournament team at Hermann after scoring 55 points in three games.

Rodgers credits her off-season work for her strong sophomore season. She played with the Phenom select basketball team, which also included MCHS teammates Aubrey Janes and Kaylee Daume. 

“It’s really great because Phenom is a great program and they have a lot of great players,” said Rodgers, who also competes in track in the spring. “I got to play against all of them, which was a struggle, but it really prepares you because you play against all of those physical people. Then, you come here and it’s like, ‘If I can play with them, I can play with those people.’ I love how they do that because it gives the people who don’t have a lot to do in the offseason.besides practicing by themselves.”

Rodgers returned for her second year on the team this winter after earning all-Eastern Missouri Conference and all-district honors a year ago.