The varsity girls basketball team earned the second place in Missouri Class 6 State Championship, the best finish in school history. It was the second time in school history the team made it to the final four.
The team came up just short of a state championship against Incarnate Word Academy March 20. Although they didn’t go all the way, they accomplished milestone feats for the program, including a district and conference title to go along with only one loss on the regular season. The team dominated, winning 14 games by 30 or more points and five games by 40 or more, beating last year’s record of 27-3, the previous program high.
The team focus was improvement, looking to match or beat last year’s 27-3 season, and still looking to chase titles.
“You just want to take it one game at a time and then try to build and stack, good execution and good effort into what can be the next day at practice,” head coach Mike Bennett said.
In their first matchups of the season, the team ran through a six-game winning streak, including a 68-23 home debut victory against North Kansas City High School. Their streak was cut short in a close loss to Farmington High School in a long road trip to Farmington, Arkansas. The team didn’t look back after that, dominating all of their matchups up to the State Tournament.
“We worked really hard this season and took a lot of time and put effort into practice and working at it every game,” junior Trinity Bates said.
In the Class 6 Championship, they saw their first matchup against Rock Bridge High School, winning 56-49 to start their playoff run. The team then advanced to the final four, where they faced off against Kickapoo High School, winning 42-37 in a high-stakes game to send them to the State Title game. They went on to face the defending state champions Incarnate Word Academy, where the season ended just short of the championship.
“You look at the success level that this team has, and you kind of really look at it as something that necessarily hasn’t been done before,” Bennett said. “We were super successful last year, and we’ve had successful seasons here before that.”
