The Wellsville-Middletown girls basketball team suffered a huge blow during the first week of practice, when it lost senior Carly Henderson for the season due to a torn ACL injury.

But the injury didn’t stop the Tigers from turning in their best season in years. After beating the Wright City Wildcats 60-47 on Feb. 16 at home, W-M wrapped up its regular season at 15-10, surpassing last year’s win total of 11.

“We could have been better than that,” fourth-year W-M coach Todd Cripe said. “I thought we left some wins out there. But it is what it is.”

Now, the Tigers are setting their sights on turning in a successful postseason. They will take on the Higbee Tigers at 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 23 in a Class 1, District 10 tournament semifinal game. W-M is the No. 2 seed in the six-team tournament.

Last year, W-M knocked off Higbee 51-49 in the district semifinals at Pilot Grove. Almost a month ago, the Tigers beat Higbee 56-37 in the championship game of the Keytesville Tournament.

A win over Higbee in this year’s district semifinals will advance W-M to the championship game, scheduled for 1 p.m. on Feb. 25. The Tigers have won two district titles in school history, with their last one coming in 1990.

By beating Wright City, W-M snapped a two-game losing streak. The Tigers also picked up their fifth win at home.

“It was a great team win going in the right direction into districts,” Cripe said. “I think it was a good way to end the season.”

The Tigers are enjoying an outstanding season despite having just eight players. Senior Natalie Boeckelman, juniors Bethany Slovensky, Jenelle Boeckelman and Meagan Cripe, sophomores Hallie Guzy, Indica Scott and Keigan Hall and freshman Helanea McKenzie make up the team.

Cripe said Henderson has been a valuable member for the Tigers even though she is out for the year.

“I’ve been so proud of her because she has gotten used to the situation she was in,” Cripe said. “She always remained upbeat. She always remained a part of the team. She’s on the bench with us at all times. She keeps stats for us. She does things for us on the bench. She’s in with the girls and talks with the girls all of the time.”

The Tigers began their season with a fourth-place finish in the Montgomery County Invitational, their highest finish in that tournament since 1989. W-M was 3-4 on Dec. 16 before winning five games in a row. The team also won the Keytesville tournament for the first time.

Against Wright City, the Tigers got 20 points from Hall, 16 from Slovensky, eight from Scott off the bench and seven from Guzy. W-M led by as many as 17 in the third quarter.

“All of the girls did a nice job of giving me great minutes,” Cripe said.

The Tigers finished 4-10 in Eastern Missouri Conference play with the win over Wright City. They also had league wins over Mark Twain, Louisiana and Van-Far.

“There is a lot of parity up and down in the EMO outside of Montgomery County,” Cripe said. “You have to be on top of your game in the EMO every night. If you have an off-night, anybody can beat anybody.”

Also on Feb. 16, the W-M boys team lost 59-34 to Wright City in its regular season finale. The Tigers finished their season at 9-16 after losing to Cairo 72-44 in a Class 2, District 5 quarterfinal game four days later at Sturgeon.