Community, Liberty split on the hardwood

The Liberty Middle Lady Patriots rolled to a 38-20 win over host Community Middle behind the Calvert sisters with Olivia scoring 10 and Hannah contributing eight to extend their winning streak to 10 games without a loss.

The Lady Patriots scored the first seven points against a patchwork Viqueen lineup, which was decimated by the absence of three key players due to injuries, and never looked back as they closed the first quarter with a 13-3 lead.

Hannah Calvert came out firing in the second frame for Liberty with two 3-pointers and their defense held Community (2-3) to a lone field goal by Jamie Demonbreum for a 25-8 halftime advantage.

"I have three starters out, two are gone for the season," Community coach Kevin Hinson said. "We are going to have to circle the wagons and regroup, as hard as I know that can be for kids this age. We had some trouble taking care of the ball, but we will get through that. We will have to make more shots than we managed to hit tonight, and we can play better defense than we showed out there tonight."

Liberty continued to be productive offensively and maintained a 34-17 cushion before emptying its bench early in the fourth period.

"I think that we had moments where we were on our game tonight," Lady Patriot coach Jennifer Gray said. "We missed a lot of shots and turned the ball over way too much, but overall we continue to get better each game at playing teamwork."

Shelby Harmon came off the bench to score a team-high eight points for the Purple and Gold.

Community next travels to Webb. Liberty plays host to Riverside Christian Academy. Both games are Monday night at 6.

Community 35, Liberty 22 (B): The Vikings earned the win behind the shooting of Quinn Frost and Blake Fanning, who split 20 points between them.

Liberty was unable to handle the pressure defense of the home team with any kind of consistency and trailed 8-3 after one period and 14-5 at intermission.

"The kids are really starting to get it," Community coach Robbie Davis said. "It is a whole new system, but they are really buying into it and gaining more confidence each week. We had some growing pains and a couple of hiccups along the way, but I think we have turned the corner and our best basketball is ahead of us."

Kyle Cunningham got the hot hand for the Patriots with seven points in the third quarter to help his team close the score to 22-14. Liberty had the ball and a chance to cut it to six on two occasions but turnovers cost them dearly.

Taylor Paschal and Tanner Simmons hit 3-pointers in the final frame and the Vikings led by as many as 15 before both teams turned over their lineups to close out the game.

Cunningham netted seven to lead the Patriots.