The Community R-6 girls didn’t want a repeat of last year against Marion County.
Rather, the Lady Trojans repeated as winners this season with a 40-32 victory over Marion County in their …
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The Community R-6 girls didn’t want a repeat of last year against Marion County.
Rather, the Lady Trojans repeated as winners this season with a 40-32 victory over Marion County in their home opener on Wednesday. Community moves to 3-0 after taking a 25-16 halftime lead and building its advantage to as large as 35-19 after the third quarter.
Head coach Bob Curtis said Community was able to lead the entire game this time after not being able to close out last year’s meeting at Marion County (0-3). He said the Lady Trojans led last year until losing 46-43 to the squad led by Ryan Wood, who should be a Hall of Famer according to Curtis.
“I knew they were going to make a run,” Curtis said. “We made some mental errors, which will happen. We led the entire game until the last two minutes up there last year and got beat. I’m glad to survive it and win it because we led from the tip. You want to win those.”
Curtis said Community focused on limiting Kennedy Hathaway and Alyah Pollard. Hathaway and Pollard each had buckets in the second half but finished with nine and eight points, respectively, and they only combined for five points in the first half.
The Lady Trojans had a zone defense that gave Marion County trouble. The Lady Mustangs threw passes that often found Community, especially in the first half, and Curtis said they were beaten on the glass by Community.
“With them, we try to win every quarter,” Curtis said. “We had a little bit of a cushion to make some mistakes. There were a lot of contested jumpers taken. When you’re playing zone, you don’t want people to get to the rim, and you want them to take contested jumpers. When it didn’t go in, we took it off the rim and they took one shot.”
Jocelyn Curtis led Community with 14 points and 10 rebounds for her second straight double-double. She finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds in a 40-28 win at district foe Wellsville-Middletown.
“My teammates lift me up a lot, and my coach — my dad — has really been helping me,” Curtis said. “It’s my senior year so I want to give it all I got.”
Jocelyn Curtis said the defense has been key to the team as Community has held each of its three opponents under or around 30 points. She said the Lady Trojans know where to be on defense.
“We really focus on watching their eyes and shoulders,” Jocelyn Curtis said. “We’re trying to get in that gap and get that pass. We try to be there every time, we communicate well and we stay hooked to their key players.”
Peyton Beamer followed Curtis with 13 points, six rebounds, six assists and three steals. Kat Meyer had five points but two steals, and Chloe Johnson finished with two points but had nine rebounds and five steals.
Johnson seemed to be everywhere in Community’s defense and gave the effort Bob Curtis wants as the team heads into its next game at 6 p.m. Friday at home against Mark Twain (0-1).
“She’s such a tough competitor and does so many things for us,” Bob Curtis said. “I’m proud of all of the kids who played in that game, but I am definitely proud of her.”
