So far, life has been good for Aubrey Janes on the Montgomery County girls basketball team.

A year ago, she played a key role for the Wildcats as a freshman, helping her team win 22 games and capturing an Eastern Missouri Conference title. After two weeks, Janes is picking up right where she has left off from her freshman year, scoring 32 points after four games and earning an all-tournament award.

Janes, a sophomore, was the only MCHS representative on the all-Montgomery County Invitational Tournament team. She earned her honor for her all-around play in the three games of the tournament. She scored 25 points and helped the Wildcats place third.

Janes received her all-tournament medal after the Wildcats beat the Mexico Bulldogs 49-37 in the third-place game on Dec. 7 at Ballew & Snell Court. She said she was really surprised with her award.

“It’s pretty nice,” Janes said. “I wasn’t expecting it all, but I’m grateful for having it and being voted for it.”

Janes helped the Wildcats earn some hardware at the MCHS tournament for the sixth year in a row. They won their first third-place trophy since 2020. MCHS won it all last year and placed second in 2019, 2021 and 2022.

“It was really nice with the team especially,” Janes said. “We’ve grown a lot since our first game. It’s been a very big change from last year, but with what we have, I think we’re doing very well. We’re executing everything pretty well. It’s nice to be able to get this chance and opportunity.”

The Wildcats improved to 2-2 with the win over Mexico. They beat Fulton 42-32 in a first-round game on Dec. 2 and lost to Hermann 61-38 in the semifinals on Dec. 4. They began their season on Nov. 22 with a 51-26 loss to Monroe City.

MCHS had just seven players participate in the contest against Mexico. Still, the Wildcats found a way to finish with their largest offensive output of the season.

“I think we did pretty good,” MCHS sophomore Kaylee Daume said. “We have to work on picking each other up and having more energy going forward. That’s the main part of what we have to do.”

Sophomore Khloe Kribbs gave the Wildcats the lead for good after breaking a 31-31 tie with a free throw with 25.7 seconds left in the third quarter. MCHS outscored Mexico 17-6 in the fourth quarter.

Janes said her team struggled with energy in the first half despite leading 23-20 at halftime.

“I think during halftime, our body language and everything else were down,” the sophomore said. “We came out at halftime and got everybody up. We were positive with ourselves and I think that really helped us a lot throughout the second half.”

Daume said she was thrilled with the way her team bounced back from the loss to Hermann three nights before. The Wildcats led 29-23 at one point in the third quarter before losing to the Bearcats.

“We were pretty down, but we picked each other up,” Daume said. “We got into it and wanted it. We were pretty excited about that.”

Freshman Emma Rodgers was the Wildcats’ leading scorer in the tournament with 57 points. She finished with 25 points – including 16 in the second half – with three 3-pointers against Mexico.

Janes finished with four points against Mexico. She scored the opening basket with 7:03 left in the first quarter and another basket with 6:26 to go in the third. She also had a 13-point effort against Fulton to help the Wildcats win their first game of the season and finished with eight points against Hermann.

Last year, Janes had several strong performances, including a six-point effort against Southern Boone in the Sophie Cunningham Classic. She was the only freshman on the varsity roster.

This season, she’s one of the leaders of a team that lost five players to graduation. The sophomore said she believes her team will turn in another outstanding season this winter.

“I think we just need to have confidence in ourselves,” Janes said. “We’re very talented as a group. We’re just very young. I think the more we practice, we’ll be getting better every time we come out.”