When the game is close, the Community R-6 girls seem to go far.

Community R-6 girls vs Wellsville Photo District Title Photo Gallery

That was true on Saturday in Madison when the No. 1 seed Lady Trojans defeated No. 2 Wellsville-Middletown 56-50 to win the Class 1 District 10 championship. Winning their eighth contest in 11 games decided by single digits clinched Community’s eighth district title in 10 years. 

Head coach Bob Curtis has been on the sidelines coaching the Lady Trojans (22-5) through this current run of 10 straight district championship appearances. Curtis said this year’s time has shown to be capable in close games, which helped Saturday and also erased the memory of last year’s 44-37 district title loss to Cairo.

“We’ve come up on the fun side, and we’ve come up on the heartache side,” Curtis said. “It’s really nice this year because we were leading at halftime a year ago and just didn’t pull it out. The girls have won a lot of close games this year. What a great battle and great championship game.”

Curtis said his seniors, who are now part of three district title teams, have shown up through a performance and leadership standpoint the last couple of games, combining for 35 points in both victories. Sarah Angel, Olivia Kuda and Kayla Jett combined for 41 this time as Angel led with 20 points while going 8-for-11 at the free throw line, Kuda finished with a double-double of 12 points and 15 rebounds, and Jett added nine points off the bench. Alyssa Beamer contributed 10 points to the winning effort.

The Lady Trojans had a 52-45 lead with just less than four minutes left in the game but found themselves clinging to a two-point lead thanks to the double-double effort of Wellsville’s Keigan Hall — 11 points and 12 rebounds. Curtis said these are moments when his veteran leadership is paramount as Angel, who he thinks is all-state worthy, ripped away two steals as part of her four in the game and sank four free throws down the stretch.

“They’ve been in a lot of close ones and pulled them out this year so they didn’t really get rattled,” Curtis said. “A big part of that is my three seniors — Kayla Jett, Olivia Kuda and Sarah Angel — as it’s just phenomenal leadership. They’re a big part of our success.”

Angel said Community had to handle the defensive pressure from the Lady Tigers (16-11) to succeed. The first possession of the game saw several defenders crowd Angel at midcourt, and it didn’t relent much after that. 

Wellsville was able to prevent Community from pulling away like what happened in the first game of the season in a 45-30 contest in Laddonia. The Lady Tigers took leads out of the first and third quarters and were breathing down the Lady Trojans’ necks as a few one-and-one free throws didn’t go down for Community.

“The full-court press was a big challenge for us, but at the end of the day, our effort was just there and we wanted it more,” Angel said. 

“They didn’t want Sarah to touch it, and I don’t blame them,” Curtis said. “I would’ve done the same thing. When she touches it, good things happen. It was hard for her to get a hand on the ball period, and when she did, she had two or three people flying at her. But she’s been seeing that all year. She didn’t turn it over, she handled all that pressure, and got people the ball to score in good spots.”

Angel does have many options when it comes to Community’s offense, Curtis said. In fact, he said the program’s success over a long period of time can be explained by the parade of proficient players that have worn a Lady Trojan jersey. Community isn’t just the name of the school.

“We’re called Community for a reason,” Curtis said. “These people believe in me, they have great kids, and the players go make the plays so I just try to put them in successful positions to win. Our kids and our families make it a priority. Basketball is a year-round sport. We go in the summers and work hard getting ready for the fall. These kids make this what it is because they really want to be good.”

Kuda said Community did lose much from a season ago in Alexis Welch, Paige Meyer and Shelby Clark, but the team has focused on what the great assets they have this year. She said those girls provided the Lady Trojans a formidable post presence so Kuda has put in the time and effort to be that player this season.

“Alexis Welch was a big post player, Paige was really tall and a good shot blocker and Shelby was really good on the perimeter,” Kuda said. “We do a lot of rebounding drills in practice. Coach really puts it in my head that games are won on second shots, so I just make sure to hit somebody, box out, and just go up and get the board and put it back up.”

“Olivia and (junior) Kylie (Brooks) are so hard to box out and check out and keep off the boards,” Curtis said. “Kylie jumps so well and Olivia gets such good positioning, we get a lot of second shots.”

A junior Community has been glad to install in its rotation, whether coming off the bench or starting like on Saturday, is Beamer. No matter the game, Beamer can be seen diving all over the floor and sustaining contact without much fear. 

The points started pouring in for Beamer in the third quarter as she scored all of her points and hit her two 3-pointers in the eight minutes. That was when the Lady Trojans took a lead that ended up enduring to the final buzzer as Beamer knocked down a 3-pointer and put back an offensive rebound over two taller defenders.

“She had an offensive rebound down in there amongst the six-footers and stuck it back,” Curtis said. “That’s the kind of heart she has. Alyssa’s a tough cookie. She’ll go running into some bodies, make a free throw and she just had a big game.”

“I was thinking about the seniors, and I just want to play hard for them,” Beamer said. “This year, we can go a long way.”

Beamer isn’t the only Lady Trojan who believes in this team. To make sure his team is prepared for sectionals at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Salisbury, Curtis said he went to Wardsville later in the day to watch the District 9 title game between St. Elizabeth and Pilot Grove. St. Elizabeth (21-6) defeated Pilot Grove (23-6) 53-39 so Community will face them next.