‘Unfinished business’: Palmyra girls gain revenge for earlier loss to Monroe City

MONROE CITY, Mo. — Palmyra girls basketball coach Kelsey Stuart referred to the rather one-sided 50-28 victory over rival Monroe City as “unfinished business.”

There might have been a wink in her eye when she said that. At the very least, there was the distinct hint of a wry smile.

Palmyra made no secret of wanting to avenge a 51-44 loss earlier this month to Monroe City in the semifinals of the recent Tony Lenzini Tournament on its home court.

Palmyra (16-4) did just that, and rather quickly, Tuesday night in the Clarence Cannon Conference contest played before a crowd of about 1,600 as part of a girls-boys twinbill between the two schools.

“For sure,” said 6-foot-1 Palmyra senior center Candra King, when quizzed about the possibility of some extra motivation heading into the rematch. “We really wanted this one. We came ready to play.”

Then that phrase popped up again. 

“There was unfinished business,” King said.

That unfinished business was all but … well, finished, by early in the second half. Monroe City (11-11) did not reach double figures until there was a little more than five minutes remaining in the third quarter. By that time, Palmyra led 33-10.

Three of Palmyra’s four losses have come to Illinois and Iowa schools. Palmyra is 15-1 against Missouri competition.

“Give Palmyra a lot of credit,” Monroe City coach Adam Rung said. “They took it right at us. They were aggressive on defense, and we didn’t shoot well. We were just out of sync.”

King (11), Sydney Compton (11) and Taytum White (10) combined for 32 Palmyra points. Alaina Lohman (9) and Clare Williams (7) were close behind.

King (7), Compton (7) and Williams (5) combined for 19 Palmyra rebounds.

“I was so proud of our defensive effort,” said Stuart, whose club surrendered just 16 points over the first three periods in building a 43-16 margin. “We knew (that last game) was not our best game. We had a game plan and the girls executed it very well. I’m seeing a lot of improvement.”

The victory also kept Palmyra atop the league standings at 5-0.

“The girls are hungry to reach our goal (of winning the championship),” Stuart said.

Palmyra’s final two league games are at Centralia on Saturday and hosting Highland on Feb. 16.

Audri Youngblood scored 9 points and cleared off 10 rebounds for Monroe City. Ava Potterfield added 7 points. Monroe City is 1-3 in the conference.