Orrick’s varsity girls basketball team “showed a lot of growth and got better” during last week’s I-70 Conference Tournament, according to coach Jonathan Kinder.The Bearcats turned that growth into a seventh-place finish. After falling 5717 Dec. 9 to Lone Jack in their opener and 53-32 Dec. 11 to Santa Fe in the consolation semifinals, they edged the Sweet Springs/Malta Bend co-op 33-20 Dec. 13 in the seventh-place game.“Closing out a close game was huge for the growth of our team,” Kinder stated Tuesday via email. “We are just focusing on getting better one day at a time.”The girls opened this week with a 5315 non-conference loss Tuesday night to visiting Lathrop, a Class 3 program. Orrick is a Class 1 school.“I like to play the higher classes because it gives us a good idea of … (highly) capable teams that we could see if we make a playoff run,” Kinder said. “And that’s always the goal is to win a district and ...