The Community R-6 girls had their double-digit lead shrink to as low as five points on Saturday.

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The Lady Trojans didn’t let the added pressure from that or the Harrisburg defense prevent them winning 58-48 in the 13th annual Gary Filbert Classic in Mexico. Community failed to reach 50 points in regulation in all four of its losses.

Head coach Bob Curtis said this game was a good response to Community’s recent struggles. He said the shooting has been down so the Lady Trojans (5-4) were in a good spot after hitting some early shots as sisters Peyton and Alyssa Beamer each knocked down two 3-pointers in the first quarter, which they led 20-10 afterward.

“It was really nice to hit a couple early and get some confidence,” Curtis said. “Everything worked better because we made a couple jumpers early against their zone. The girls relaxed because we had seven or eight games where it was hard from the perimeter.”

Curtis said the perimeter offense started so well that forced Harrisburg (2-6) to switch to man-to-man defense and rely on the pressure applied by its 2-2-1 zone and in the full-court press. He ventured to even say the victory was Community’s “best game to this point.”

The Lady Trojans had three score in double figures, including the game’s MVP Kylie Brooks after recording yet another double-double with 18 points and 13 rebounds to go with a 8-for-12 performance at the free-throw line, Alyssa Beamer with 15 points and Aaliyah Welch with 10 points and eight rebounds. Curtis said someone else is worth mentioning as well after distributing the ball effectively with five assists.

“Peyton Beamer did a really nice job against their press,” Curtis said. “She’s our sophomore point guard that took a lot of heat tonight. She had a couple of great assists to Kylie on the other block when she got doubled.”

One of the games Community didn’t reach 50 points by the end of regulation was the previous 54-52 double-overtime loss to Sturgeon at home. Curtis said that was a game that could’ve gone either way, but that was a game that only showed “glimpses” of “progress and consistency.”

Brooks had a monster double-double of 22 points and 20 rebounds against Sturgeon and followed that up with another one while helping the Lady Trojans control the boards to go with a better run offense.

“She’s a walking double-double right now and is having a great year,” Curtis said. “We controlled the boards, which is a must for us. We have solid post play.”

Harrisburg seemed to be at its best while scoring in transition and demonstrated that when the constant margin of around 10 points was cut to five. Brooklynn Glasgow had an offensive putback to stave off decrease to single digits and a Lady Trojan post player Welch scored six points in the fourth quarter despite the Lady Bulldogs going 5-for-10 at the free-throw line in the quarter.

“When they cut it to five, I thought Aaliyah Welch had two really good back-to-back layups out of our half-court set that got it to nine,” Curtis said. “We stopped them two possessions in a row. We’re really happy with 58 points against a good defensive team and are just excited to play again.”