Lady Trojans conditioned in 39-29 win vs Sturgeon, advance to title game

The Community R-6 girls are in good shape heading into the Sturgeon Tournament’s championship today.

The top seed Lady Trojans defeated the host Lady Bulldogs 39-29 on Wednesday night to notch their 10th straight win and advance to their second straight tournament championship game. They will face Salisbury (12-6) at 5 p.m. Saturday in the high school gym after holding Central Activities Conference foe Sturgeon (6-12) to five field goals in the final three quarters in the semifinals — their second win against the Lady Bulldogs after a 40-34 victory earlier this season.

Community (17-2) allowed five field goals in the first quarter, which ended up knotted at 11. The Lady Trojans tallied 18 steals to stay ahead 19-16 at halftime and 30-25 after three quarters. Head coach Bob Curtis said his team was able to adjust to the Lady Bulldogs, who scored most of their points early in transition.

“We’ve really finished games well this year — the last three quarters,” Curtis said. “That last 24 minutes, we have really outscored our opponent and probably have gotten stickier defensively. I think our conditioning is good and is where it needs to be.”

Curtis said defeating the host team during its previous two tournaments — Sturgeon on Wednesday and New Franklin for a championship — prepares a team for playoff games because it feels like a road game in a more hostile environment rather than on a neutral court.

Sarah Angel led the Lady Trojans with 10 points and five steals, Kylie Brooks followed with seven points, 11 rebounds and three steals, Aaliyah Welch had seven points and seven rebounds, Olivia Kuda finished with six points, and Alyssa Beamer had four steals along with a 3-pointer in the fourth quarter. Curtis said each of these girls made up Community’s defense that piled on deflections and steals throughout the night.

“I think our angles were good and our zone — we played a lot of zone in this game,” Curtis said. “We really got some tips and some easy layups out of our half-court zone. In the first game (against Sturgeon), we probably played 28 minutes of man, so when you’re going to see somebody at least three times, you’ve got to throw some different stuff at them and see what sticks and what you do a good job with.”

After finishing the first half with four free throws, Angel scored six points in the second half while leading the pesky Lady Trojan defense. She said that led to the offense surging to as much as a 28-19 lead with two minutes left in the third quarter and keeping Sturgeon from ever coming back.

“We handled their press very well, and we limited our turnovers, which really helped us in our half-court offense,” Angel said. “We were being aggressive and handled the fouls when needed.”

Ayden Wilhite led Sturgeon with 10 points and eight rebounds, and Allie Heath followed with eight points. Wilhite scored six points in the first quarter and was held without a field goal until a 3-pointer in the third quarter.

The Lady Bulldogs’ still fought for rebounds as Riley West finished with eight rebounds, but Brooks emerged as the floor-leader, threatening for her second straight double-double against Sturgeon as she finished with 16 points and 15 rebounds in the first meeting.

“She got to the free throw line a lot — hit some, missed some, but I thought she played hard around the rim and tried to give them one shot and then give us a board,” Curtis said. “I’m very happy with her effort, and we’re winning a lot of close games right now.”

Brooks brought her rebounding total to eight after three quarters as Sturgeon was able to trim Community’s lead heading into the fourth quarter. After diving around on defense, Beamer nailed a 3-pointer to make it 33-27 halfway through the fourth quarter prior to the Lady Trojans closing the game allowing only two free throws in the closing minutes.

Curtis said Community having the presence on the boards played a part in its semifinal win starting with Brooks’ and Welch’s rebounds, Kayla Jett’s five and Kuda’s four. He said that will need to be the case again against Salisbury.

“Their post players really impressed in this win over New Franklin,” Curtis said. “New Franklin has got size around the rim, so for them to shine against a bigger team, we’re really going to have to rebound the ball well.”

Trojans bounce back with 55-38 win vs New Bloomfield

Community R-6 boys head coach Tad Shotten admitted his team didn’t shoot the ball well to start the Sturgeon Tournament.

After Tuesday’s 57-36 loss to South Callaway, Thursday’s game was much better for the Trojans as they defeated New Bloomfield 55-38 to advance to the consolation final on Saturday against Paris.

Mason Carroll led with 24 points, Gavin Allen followed with 13 points and Tucker Robnett had 10 points. 

Community (11-9) advanced to today’s consolation final at 12:30 p.m. against Paris (8-9), after defeating New Bloomfield (0-19) 55-38 on Thursday during a second-round game at Sturgeon’s middle school gym. Paris defeated Sturgeon (5-13) 62-44 on Thursday.

Trojans outshot in first round by South Callaway 57-36

Through 19 games, the Community R-6 boys haven’t faced many shooters that are as good as their opponents Monday.

The Trojans lost their first-round game of the Sturgeon Tournament 57-36 to South Callaway after the Bulldogs knocked down 10 3-pointers, led by the five 3-pointers and 22 points from Tayber Gray.

Conversely, Community (10-9) struggled from the floor as head coach Tad Shotten explained. Through one quarter, the Trojans trailed 19-9 prior to being down 28-15 at halftime because the ball wouldn’t go in from all over.

“We couldn’t make our layups and couldn’t score,” Shotten said. “We ran our stuff, we got good looks, but we couldn’t throw it in the ocean tonight.”

Shotten said Community’s struggles were magnified given its opponent as South Callaway (10-8) used an 11-1 run that included two Bulldog 3-pointers. Gray started to heat up in the second quarter by scoring seven points, but the Trojans couldn’t find a consistent stream of points.

Gavin Allen led the team with 15 points and 10 rebounds and shouldered most of the offensive burden in the first half. Allen ended the first quarter with an offensive putback and coast-to-coast layup off a defensive rebound before accounting for two of the three Community field goals in the second quarter.

Mason Carroll scored the first non-Allen bucket with less than two minutes left until halftime prior to hitting a 3-pointer in the third quarter and finishing with nine points and eight rebounds to follow Allen. Tucker Robnett finished with seven points and five rebounds, scoring six points in the second half. Eli Johnson had his five points in the second half, and Logan Johnson came away with five steals on defense.

Speaking of defense, Shotten said South Callaway executed its strategy of speeding up the Trojans. Community had the most trouble in the first half dealing with defensive pressure but improved to allow the offense to become more balanced in the second half.

“With their press, they run and jump you,” Shotten said. “We’re not the deepest team, and they’re deep. They come at you in waves, and it got us sped up. In the second half, we did a better job breaking it and just pulling the ball and setting up our stuff.”

It definitely was more difficult to come back, especially after the Bulldogs scalded the nets in the third quarter, Shotten said. South Callaway hit six of its 3-pointers — three in the first two minutes — to put Community further behind 48-27 going into the fourth quarter.

Gray couldn’t miss in the third quarter as he drained four 3-pointers. The Trojans were able to make a pair of 3-pointers fall in the second half as Carroll and Eli Johnson converted from deep.

“That whole team can shoot,” Shotten said. “Overall, that’s probably the best shooting team (we’ve faced all year). They’re one of the top shooting teams I’ve seen all year other than North Callaway.”

Lady Trojans pull away in second quarter for 46-18 win vs South Callaway

The Community R-6 girls started the Sturgeon Tournament this year in a dominant way.

The top-seeded Lady Trojans showed strong defense to pull away from its first-round opponent, South Callaway, early in its game Monday to win 46-18. Eight Lady Trojans scored, including a team-high 12 points by Sarah Angel.

Olivia Kuda followed Angel with 11 points, finishing 5-for-6 from the free throw line. Aaliyah Welch had eight points, and Brooklynn Glasgow and Kylie Brooks each had four points.

Head coach Bob Curtis said Angel was patient against South Callaway’s defense as she consistently found the open girl. He said the second quarter was where Community (16-2) took control, after a 15-6 lead following the first quarter.

“A great second quarter led to the victory as I thought we defended well and turned them over a lot, leading to some run-out layups,” Curtis said.