Rock Bridge girls basketball prepares for districts

COLUMBIA — Lindsey Cunningham led the Rock Bridge girls basketball team to another blowout victory Thursday.

After scoring 15 points in a 70-26 victory over Helias Catholic High School on Thursday, senior Lindsey Cunningham smiled on her way to the bench, receiving applause from a packed gymnasium and hugs from her coach and teammates. It was the last home game she will play in high school. 

“I wish we could find some more years of eligibility for her,” Rock Bridge coach Jill Nagel said. “She’s a great player.”

The Bruins finished up the regular season with a 12-game win streak thanks in part to Cunningham’s efforts. Before each offensive play, Nagel throws up a play number for Cunningham to relay to the rest of the team — a formula that has led the Bruins to an average margin of victory of 24 points throughout their win streak.

“At the beginning it was a bit of a tearjerker,” Cunningham said about Thursday's game. “But I have confidence that the season is not ending anytime soon.” 

Cunningham has good reason to think that. The Bruins enter the postseason as the No. 1 seed. But Nagel and Cunningham are trying to prepare like any other team in the pack.

“I think it doesn’t really matter what we’ve done just because everyone is at 0-0, but at the same time, we’ve got in the back of our head a reminder of how good we are and how good we can be, so that will help,” Cunningham said.

Last season, the Bruins lost in districts as the No. 1 seed.

“Our number one goal this year was to win districts, and we didn’t win it last year so we need to take care of that,” Nagel said.

The Bruins play at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at Smith-Cotton High School in the district semi-finals, against either Smith-Cotton or Washington High School.