The Community R-6 girls will need plenty of energy to endure this week.

Community R-6 girls, boys vs Bunceton/Prairie Home Photo Gallery

The Lady Trojans played their first of four games and their fourth of seven games in 10 days on Monday at home, defeating Bunceton/Prairie Home 47-33. Community outscored BPH 16-8 in the fourth quarter and allowed 19 points in the final three quarters after allowing 14 points in the first quarter.

“This is a rough stretch, but they’ve won three of four,” head coach Bob Curtis said. “They were very prepared, but we got to the line (shot 34 free throws). When we do, a lot more of these games are going to be a lot more comfortable. We are attacking the rim, getting shots we want and getting fouled.”

Curtis said the Lady Trojans (12-7) have had to play tightly-contested games in recent days, going back-and-forth with all three of their opponents in the Sturgeon tournament last week that resulted in them winning two of three and taking third place. Their only loss was to champion Salisbury that turned into a 39-35 final after Community had to foul late.

Community only led 24-19 after one half and didn’t start widening the gap until the fourth quarter, when Kylie Brooks scored 10 of her game-high 22 points. BPH (7-11) wasn’t making it easy at the rim for the Lady Trojans, recording a handful of blocks in the first quarter and finishing with double-digit blocks all while managing a roster of seven players. Only one ended up fouling out.

“Our offense allows us to find a lot of open spots and drive,” Brooks said. “Running our offense for longer, because coach tested us to run it for longer and don’t shoot until you’re open or you draw a foul, is what we did. We took a minute off the clock in one play, and that allowed us to find an open shot or eventually fouled. Misdirecting the defense is how we can get around all the hands.”

Brooks rejected a fair amount of balls herself, finishing with four blocks to go with seven steals and 12 rebounds to give her yet another double-double, and shot 8-for-12 on free throws. Alyssa Beamer had nine points (4-for-6 on free throws), Brooklynn Glasgow finished with eight points (4-for-7 on free throws) and seven rebounds, and Aaliyah Welch had eight points (4-for-5 on free throws), six rebounds and four steals. 

The post player Brooks scored a few times in transition to give the Community offense some life early in the game and did so again in the fourth quarter, including once that drew a foul and preceded a 3-point play. Fellow post player Welch was able to cut to the rim a few times as well after being found on a pass.

“We have been working on getting up and down the floor faster,” Brooks said. “We’re starting to play faster teams so we have to be faster too. Our transition is one main thing we have been focusing on in practice.”

BPH knocked down a couple of 3-pointers to take a slight 14-13 lead after one quarter, but the perimeter shots were almost nonexistent for the rest of the game. BPH and Community each had one more 3-pointer after the first quarter.

Curtis said the defense compensated for the down offense in the first three quarters and has been liking that side of the ball during the team’s recent stretch, allowing under 40 points in each of the previous four games. 

“We mixed and matched early as we played three defenses by halftime, just trying to get them slowed down,” Curtis said. “We got into our bench a little bit too as they played five minutes in the first half — all five kids rotated and played about five minutes — so I think our legs were better in the fourth quarter.”

Curtis said his starters were fresher against the smaller BPH roster, but having a five-player substitution early in the game benefits the Lady Trojans more with their upcoming schedule of four games this week. They had Central Activities Conference rival Cairo scheduled the next night and have two more conference games on Thursday and Friday, starting at Madison, who lost to Community 67-12 earlier this season, at 6 p.m. Thursday. He’d like to see the fourth quarter resemble Monday’s frequently in the future.

“We’re trying to get where we finish games well,” Curtis said. “It’s a rough week, but it’s a good time to be playing too. The kids are playing well and guarding well so you win a lot of games if you’re playing defense like us right now.”