The Community R-6 girls dug themselves a hole but nearly climbed out of it Saturday afternoon against North Callaway.

Filbert Photos

The Ladybirds held the Lady Trojan comeback to win 45-43 in the Gary Filbert Classic at the Mexico Sports Complex. Community outscored North Callaway 21-12 in the fourth quarter but had to overcome a 10-point deficit to begin the fourth quarter that was a 13-point deficit with a 26-13 halftime score.

Regardless of Community (7-2) cutting the deficit to five points three times in the final minutes and Kayla Jett sinking a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to end the game, North Callaway head coach Tim Turlington said the Ladybirds (6-3) made shots when they absolutely needed to win their fifth-straight game.

“We played really well the first half and didn’t play bad the second half,” Turlington said. “I had some girls come in off the bench — Lakyn Hartley and Faith Cash. They came off the bench and knocked some stuff down that they needed to. That’s what they’re here for. They shoot too so they scored enough to keep us moving forward.”

Hartley finished with three points along with her three rebounds and scored her field goal in the third quarter. Cash hit two of her three field goals in the second half — including a 3-pointer that answered a 7-2 Community run to make it 31-22 in the final seconds of the third quarter — to finish with seven points. Lauren Riecke led with six rebounds and only had four points but made a bucket in the fourth quarter to support the effort from Riley Blevins.

Blevins was named the Player of the Game after her all-around performance that included a team-high 16 points along with three steals and three assists. Natalie Shryock followed with eight points.

Community’s Sarah Angel made an impact in the second half as well, scoring 18 of her game-high 23 points — along with five steals — in the final 16 minutes to keep the Lady Trojans within striking distance. Alyssa Beamer followed with six points. Community head coach Bob Curtis said Angel in the second half is the type of player he has expected during the senior’s career.

“She’s a gamer, and she’s a winner,” Curtis said. “You’re not going to hold her down for long. She’s going to respond, and she’s a big-time player that has been in a lot of big games. She really fought for us in the second half and gave us a chance to win. I’m proud of her and proud of the whole team really in the second half.

"The other night against North Shelby, I thought we kind of pouted when we got down and just didn’t finish the game strong. I’m really pleased with how we finished the game today. With another two minutes, I think we pull it out. We just dug such a hole that we couldn’t get out of.”

Angel had seven points in the third quarter but relentlessly went to the rim in the fourth quarter, including on a steal and score to cut Community’s deficit to seven points with about five minutes left in the game and on multiple instances where the Lady Trojans were trailing by five points after a move she made toward the basket.

North Callaway kept fending off Community as Riecke received a perfect pass from Shryock for an easy layup to follow a 9-4 Lady Trojan run. Blevins knocked down 6-of-8 free throws and Shryock added two from the line to help the Ladybirds survive even after mistakes such as fouling Beamer on a 3-pointer that turned into a 4-point play, making it 41-36 with a minute left.

Turlington said Community’s focus on taking away Blevins and Shryock disrupted North Callaway in the second half.

“They went to a triangle and two, which kind of bothered us a little bit,” Turlington said. “We hadn’t gone over much of that, but I knew it was coming somewhere. He’s a good coach, and he’s been doing it at a high level for a long time. That can be put squarely on me as to how the girls handled that.

“We were getting looks we needed, we were moving, we scored a few buckets when we needed it, and got to the line and scored at the free throw line.”

Blevins and Shryock had combined for 16 points in the first half, but one of Community’s key players went down in the first half. Post player Olivia Kuda had to be helped off the floor after hurting her ankle, but she eventually returned in the second half, recording four of her team-high six rebounds and adding three points to her total of five.

“It’s a big player for us, but we can’t make excuses (for the slow first half),” Curtis said. “We just didn’t make shots. We weren’t really sure about her so it was good to see her come back in the second half. I think, with some ice and some days off, she’s going to be alright.”

North Callaway played reigning Eastern Missouri Conference champion Montgomery County (6-2, 2-0 EMO) on Tuesday night prior to going to Hallsville (5-2) at 6 p.m. Dec. 27.

Community hosted Van-Far (2-6) on Tuesday before playing in the New Franklin Basketball Tournament at 5:30 p.m. Jan. 2 as the No. 1 seed.