It was a perfect way for the Community R-6 girls to spend their summer.

The Lady Trojans varsity basketball program finished a 16-0 shootout run while junior varsity won six of eight games. 

Head coach Bob Curtis said 13 girls played for Community this summer and gave him an early idea what the Lady Trojans will have in the winter. They went all over to shootouts at Higbee twice, Carrollton, Paris, Atlanta, Monroe City and a couple home league dates, facing various Class 1 and 2 competition.

“They grew a lot as a team,” Curtis said. “We found some offense. Obviously, with graduation, we were hoping to find some people offensively that would help Peyton. Peyton Beamer is our point guard who will be a junior and one of our leading scorers.”

Curtis said his daughter, Jocelyn, stepped into a bigger post role and provided some offensive balance to the team. Aaliyah Welch has started for multiple years and appears to be ready for a good senior year. 

Senior Rylee Rafferty and junior Chloe Johnson gave Community some defensive strength, and junior Kat Meyer expects to be a “long-range specialist” for the Lady Trojans. With these girls at various spots, Curtis said this adds up to a pretty good team based off early summer reactions.

“We had good balance, and we shared the ball,” Curtis said. “The girls did an excellent job. I was really proud of the girls. They just refused to lose.”

The Lady Trojans will be without their leading scorer Kylie Brooks and guards Brooklynn Glasgow and Alyssa Beamer due to graduation. However, Curtis said the team’s depth should still be in good shape.

Curtis sees junior Adriana Woodson and sophomore Lydia Hoyt having the potential for “big years.” Senior Amy McCurdy returns after stepping away from basketball last season, and Curtis said the four freshmen of Myla Carroll, Gabby Knipfel, Kooper Schafer and Sophia Fennewald all received some playing time.

“We’re going to be able to rotate a lot of kids, put pressure on you half court and full court,” Curtis said. “Four freshmen came out, and we hope to get four out of every class with the size of school that we’ve got.”

Curtis said this was true especially for a couple games. Community picked up some victories over key Class 1 opponents Higbee and Brunswick, who is coming off its third straight winning season that resulted in a runner-up district finish. Higbee, in particular, was the team that eliminated the Lady Trojans last season in districts. 

“Higbee beat us there in the district, and we beat them by double digits this summer,” Curtis said. “Brunswick, who is another Class 1 school, we were able to beat them over at Carrollton. Some of those potential playoff games or district games that would be big.”