After losing a tight game the night before, the Community R-6 girls came back to win another the next day.

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The Lady Trojans began the season Friday night with a 42-38 loss at Christian Fellowship and followed that up with a 46-43 win over Calvary Lutheran on Saturday in the Gary Filbert Classic in Mexico. Community trailed 20-12 after the first quarter but moved ahead 30-28 at halftime and stayed ahead.

Head coach Bob Curtis said Maddy Sprengel didn’t stay in front of the Lady Trojans in the first quarter and scored seven points in the first quarter. Sprengel had three points in the second half and finished with 16 points and 12 rebounds.

“We really struggled in the first quarter as we couldn’t buy a bucket and couldn’t keep their best player in front of us,” Curtis said. “We made some defensive adjustments to try to slow her down a little bit.”

Community came away with eight steals, which frustrated the Calvary Lutheran players and even the bench as a coach was called for a technical foul for slamming material on the court. Rylee Rafferty had three steals and Chloe Johnson and Peyton Beamer each had two steals. 

Johnson struggled at the free-throw line like the rest of the Lady Trojans on Saturday and the night before at Christian Fellowship but made an impact on the glass with nine rebounds. Calvary Lutheran showcased some size with Sydney Volmert’s 14 points and nine rebounds, but Johnson hung in there as did Aaliyah Welch and Jocelyn Curtis each with seven rebounds.

“She boxed out well and got to the free-throw line a ton for her size,” Curtis said about Johnson. “She caused some chaos on defense. I was really pleased with her effort.”

While Community controlled Calvary Lutheran’s point guard Sprengel, the same couldn’t be said about Beamer while she scored 19 points and tallied five 3-pointers and five assists. Beamer scored Community’s first points on a 3-pointer in the first quarter and gave the Lady Trojans a halftime lead on another 3-pointer.

The perimeter offense remained for Community as Kat Meyer added two 3-pointers as part of her eight points. Curtis said that aspect of the offense jumpstarted the offense as a whole.

“We got going from the outside,” Curtis said. “Peyton hit some 3s and Kat hit a couple, and before you know it, we were hanging around,” Curtis said. “That’s all we wanted to do. We just had to chip away at it.”

Beamer helped drain seconds from the clock in the final minute of the game, dribbling the ball before Calvary Lutheran finally caught up with her to foul and stop the clock. Later, Welch hit a free throw to increase Community’s lead to three points. The strategy worked as Calvary Lutheran’s final shot at the buzzer was beyond half court.

“We were like, ‘You’re going to have to come get us because we’re not going to give you the ball back,’” Curtis said. “Aaliyah made one of those and took it to a three-point game, which helps decision making in what to do against them. It was good for the kids this early in the season to have to finish a game like that.”

Community R-6 hosts Van-Far at 6 p.m. Monday.