The Lady Wildcats’ eight game winning streak was snapped in its final regular season game on Feb. 24 with a two-point loss to Class 5 school Camdenton. 

Cuba finished the regular season with a strong 20-6 record, a six-game improvement from last season’s team that won 14 regular season games.

The Lady Cats earned the number one seed in the Class 4 District 3 Tournament, which began on March 2 at Cuba High School. The black and gold will have a first-round bye and will play the winner of fourth-seeded St. Clair and fifth-seeded Owensville at 5:30 p.m. on March 4 in the semifinals. Tickets are $6, and will be sold at the door each night of the tournament.

Last season’s Lady Cats fell in the semifinals to St. Francis Borgia. The St. James Lady Tigers are the reigning champs of the Class 3 District 8 and are seeded second in this year’s bracket. A matchup between the Lady Wildcats and Lady Tigers in the finals is looming if both teams pick up victories over lower seeds in the semifinals. Cuba defeated St. James on Dec. 9 for the Lady Cat’s first victory over the Lady Tigers since the 2017-18 season. The Lady Tigers lost six seniors from last year’s team, and still won the Four Rivers Conference after going 7-0 in conference play. Cuba went 2-1 in the Gasconade Valley Conference (GVC) and took second place behind Belle (5-0 GVC).

Jan. 24 vs. Camdenton

The Lady Wildcats hosted Camdenton for their last regular-season game on ‘Blackout Night,’ where all students and attendees were encouraged to wear black. The matchup was tight throughout between the larger Camdenton Lady Lakers and the quicker Lady Wildcats.

Both teams exchanged baskets in the first period and the game was tied at 12 heading into the second frame. Cuba looked like they were going to pull away in the second quarter as the Lady Cats went up by 10. But Camdenton finished the half on a 6-0 run and Cuba led 30-26 at halftime.

The third quarter was also even, as both teams scored 13 points and Cuba’s four-point lead remained intact heading into the final frame. The Lady Lakers used their size to assert their dominance early in the fourth quarter, and went on a 14-2 run to start the quarter to turn their 4-point deficit into an 8-point lead. Cuba didn’t go down without a fight, and dwindled its deficit to two points. But the Lady Cats couldn’t convert on an opportunity to tie the game, and Camdenton escaped with a 58-56 victory.

Mya Garbo carried Cuba’s offense, as she knocked down four shots from downtown en route to a game-high 25 points, while adding three rebounds, two assists and a steal. Leah Schmidt was the Lady Cat’s only other double-figure scorer, and she netted 13 points, three assists and four steals. Jaylen Haffer continued to do a little bit of everything for Cuba, logging eight points, seven rebounds, five assists, two steals and one blocked shot. Brooklyn Tate added five points and five rebounds, Annica Farris scored three points and had two deflections and Addison McGinnis tallied two points, five rebounds, one assist and one steal. Camdenton had three scorers reach double-figures, led by senior Madison Sykora who scored 17 points and grabbed eight rebounds.