Wright City was unable to keep up with Elsberry in their 32-point home loss Tuesday night. 

Wright City fell 68-36 to Elsberry in Tuesday night’s Eastern Missouri Conference matchup. Elsberry used a 11-0 run in the first quarter to take a 17-4 lead. The Lady Wildcats trailed by double digits the remainder of the game. 

“They (Elsberry) play aggressive and they play fast and they’re a heck of a team,” Wright City Head Coach Doug Smith said. “That’s one of the better teams we’ve played all year… I thought our effort tonight and execution tonight against them was a whole lot better than it was when we played them the first time around.”

Wright City trailed 20-6 at the end of the first quarter and 34-12 at halftime. Wright City did nearly play Elsberry even in the third quarter. The Lady Wildcats were outscored 12-11 in the third quarter. 

Smith said his focus for the Lady Wildcats in the second half was to keep competing. 

“To come out and play as hard as you can play and keep fighting…Just keep being aggressive, keep being aggressive, keep playing defense and don't let the scoreboard dictate how you play,” Smith said. 

Smith highlighted the challenge Elsberry presented the Wright City defense. Elsberry frequently had players without the ball cutting towards the basket. Smith said it was particularly challenging because Wright City was chasing them instead of fighting through screens and not putting enough pressure on the ball. 

“But they’re so good that when you get up and pressure the ball, they’ve got five girls who can attack the basket,” Smith said. “And every girl on their team could shoot. Tough team to play against.” 

Smith said he saw strides in Wright City’s effort and execution in the halfcourt offense. He said in their game earlier this season against Elsberry, Wright City had a stretch of four minutes without getting a shot because they turned the ball over. Smith said they spent a lot of time this week working on executing against Elsberry’s 1-2-2 zone defense. 

“I thought we did a better job with that today,” Smith said. “Not throwing it away, being tough in the traps in the corners, moving the ball to the high post.” 

Smith stated that while Wright City has “got a long way still to go,” he thinks their effort is still there. He thinks the Lady Wildcats’ biggest challenge is to continue to play hard when things do not go their way. 

“We've done that a few games this year,” Smith said. “That’s disappointed me when we miss a few shots or we have a few plays that aren't good and then we just shut down. And that's the biggest challenge is overcoming that… Mistakes happen. It's ok to screw up. But it's not ok not to play hard. And I think for the most part, some of our games we've done that. I think we did a better job tonight of fighting through that and to keep playing hard despite being down.”

Danika Graham led the Wright City offensive attack with 17 points in the loss.