Boys basketball

Community R-6 boys pull down 56-53 win vs North Shelby

The Community R-6 boys grabbed Monday’s win and never let go.

The Trojans outrebounded North Shelby at home 30-24, limiting the Raiders’ opportunities on the offensive glass to win 56-53 to bounce back off a 54-50 conference loss Friday at home to Slater.

Eli Johnson and Mason Carroll each led Community (3-3) with 17 points, each knocking down three 3-pointers. Gavin Allen added 13 points and nine rebounds, and Tucker Robnett had seven points and eight rebounds. 

Head coach Tad Shotten said last week’s Slater loss was indicative of the season the Trojans had all last year so it is nice that they are winning those close games now.

“We really needed the win — a gutsy win for us,” Shotten said. “We hadn’t been playing the best ball lately. We dropped a few games last week that we really thought we could have played better and won.”

After trailing 35-27 at halftime following a Jade Daniel 3-point — one of five instances Community fouled on a layup — Community locked down defensively by holding North Shelby without a field goal in the third quarter and limiting the Raiders to five in the second half.

The Trojans went on a 12-5 run to take a 41-40 lead with 1:21 left in the third quarter as Carroll knocked down a 3-pointer on the tail end of that run after scoring on a layup off an assist from Allen.

“We just stuck with our game plan,” Shotten said. “We’ve been really struggling to shoot the ball and put the ball in the basket so we’ve been having to rely on our defense. (North Shelby) did a good job in the first half of getting some offensive boards. In the second half, we did a much better job of taking those baskets away.”

Community had a 9-0 lead early but lost it by the end of the first quarter as North Shelby had a 3-pointer from leading scorer Brendyn McDaniel — led the Raiders with 20 points and six rebounds — and then a 3-point play from Daniel, who finished with 12 points, to make Community trail 16-15 after one.

North Shelby took advantage of some errant passes from the Trojans while also crashing the offensive glass to mount an 8-0 run for a 30-24 lead with 1:47 left until halftime. Gabe Orr laid in a steal and hit a 3-pointer to cap that run. 

Like the first quarter, Community began the third quarter strong and ended it with an exclamation point as Eli Johnson drained a shot from half court at the buzzer — a highlight of many from the season-high performance by the junior.

“We were really celebrating (Eli) in the locker room,” Shotten said. “He’s been our third leading scorer, and I think he has to play that consistently. He’s definitely capable. He hasn’t got a lot of basketball experience yet, but he’s got natural ability.”

Community (1-1 CAC) plays at Central Activities Conference foe Sturgeon (1-3) tonight before playing North Callaway (2-3) at 3:15 p.m. Saturday in the Gary Filbert Classic at the Mexico Sports Complex in Mexico. 

Missouri Military Academy defeats Silex 71-66 in 2OT in rematch

Missouri Military Academy basketball didn’t start its season strong at Silex a month ago.

The Colonels had a better showing Monday at home, defeating the Owls 71-66 in double overtime. They lost 57-20 to Silex (2-5) in their season opener.

Albert Ogutu continued his hot scoring stretch, reaching double figures for the fourth straight game with his 30 points Monday. Ogutu is averaging 21.5 points in his previous four games.

Nathan Dempsey and Lucas Almeida also came through for the Colonels (3-4), sinking free throws late to seal the victory. Dempsey hit a pair and Almeida drained straight at the line.

MMA hosts Columbia Independent at 6 p.m. Jan. 10. 

Girls basketball

Lady Trojans let loose of ball in 59-33 loss to North Shelby

The Community R-6 girls scored a season-low Monday at home against North Shelby.

The Lady Trojans lost a battle of undefeated teams 59-33 after turning the ball over 20 times against North Shelby’s 3-2 zone defense. 

North Shelby (6-0) tallied 12 steals compared with Community’s 11 steals, but there were some bad passes that resulted in turnovers as well, head coach Bob Curtis said.

“We turned it over 20 times, so if you take 40 points off the board, you’re not going to win,” Curtis said. “We threw it all over the gym. It makes it difficult to compete if you don’t take care of the ball.”

Sarah Angel led Community with 10 points, six rebounds and three steals, Alyssa Beamer followed with eight points on two 3-pointers, Olivia Kuda had six rebounds and three blocks, and Aaliyah Welch finished with three blocks. 

For North Shelby, seven Lady Raiders scored as Caroline Linberger and Natalie Thrasher each had 15 points, with Linberger pulling down nine rebounds and Thrasher hitting three 3-pointers. Ava Williams had eight points and 13 rebounds, and Ciearra Kirby had six steals.

Community called its first timeout halfway through the first quarter after North Shelby took a 10-3 lead. The Lady Trojans kept throwing passes that hit the long limbs of the Lady Raiders. Alyssa Beamer hit a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to 10-6, but the North Shelby defense that has been allowing 36 points per game this season was at the core of the run to make Community trailed 18-6 after one quarter.

The Lady Trojans had its best semblance of a comeback in the second quarter, going on a 7-2 run started by Angel’s steal and 3-point play at the other end. Welch and Kuda added some buckets while providing stout interior defense to cut North Shelby’s lead to as low as six points. Still, there were a few times Community was at the rim but couldn’t finish, including on several steals.

“Our effort was good in the second quarter,” Curtis said. “We missed some easy ones right at the rim. Everything was hard tonight. We just didn’t make shots, and when you don’t make shots and turn it over 20 times, you really get beat.”

Community  (2-0 CAC) plays at Central Activities Conference foe Sturgeon (2-3) tonight before facing North Callaway (4-3) at 1:30 p.m. Saturday in the Gary Filbert Classic at the Mexico Sports Complex in Mexico.

Look for the full stories in the Saturday, Dec. 17, 2022, edition  of The Mexico Ledger.

North Callaway girls surge away from Van-Far in 2nd half in 56-26 win

The North Callaway girls looked like a different team Monday night at home against Van-Far.

The Ladybirds met its Eastern Missouri Conference foe last week on Wednesday in the Centralia Invitational Tournament, edging the Lady Indians 43-38. North Callaway won by a decisive 56-26 margin on Monday, outsourcing Van-Far 26-9 in the third quarter.

Riley Blevins scored nine of her game-high 13 points in the third quarter to go with her four assists, Lauren Riecke added seven of nine points in the quarter to give North Callaway (4-3, 1-1 EMO) a solid bench option, Abrielle Burgher had 12 points on two 3-pointers, and Natalie Shryock added eight points on two 3-pointers.

For Van-Far (1-5, 0-2 EMO), Mara Jensen led with 12 points after scoring 27 points along with 15 rebounds and five steals in last week’s game. McKenna Engh-Hoffman followed with eight points.

Overall, North Callaway shot 58.5 percent from the field, knocking down 5-of-10 shots from 3-point territory. The Ladybirds also only had four turnovers in the second half and 12 of them for the game.

A 17-2 run resulted in Van-Far erasing a 23-9 halftime deficit to make it a back-and-forth contest the rest of the way. Head coach Tim Turlington said the Ladybirds were stronger on both ends of the floor this time to prevent that from happening again and wants to see even more improvement.

“Everybody played well coming off the bench, and all of the starters played well,” Turlington said. “Hopefully, they keep on improving.”

North Callaway hosts another conference foe Louisiana (3-2, 1-0 EMO) at 7:30 p.m. Thursday while Van-Far goes to conference foe Silex (3-2, 1-0 EMO) at 7:30 p.m. the same day.

Boys wrestling

Centralia wins home dual 57-24 vs Hannibal

After piling up hardware at tournaments, the Centralia boys were on their home mat Monday.

The Panthers defeated Hannibal 57-24 in a dual that saw seven win matches — six via pinfall.

After Hannibal took a 24-0 lead Jesse Shannon put Centralia in the win column with a pin in the 132-pound match and then Rex Bryson won a 10-9 decision against Cody Culp to score three points at 138 pounds. 

The streak of winning was just starting for Centralia as Wyatt Adkisson pinned his opponent in the 144-pound match, Brayden Shelton pinned at 175 pounds, Ian Tuggle won via pinfall at 190 pounds, Payton Mabrey was the pinfall victor at 215, and Seth Hasekamp added one more pin at 285.