Viqueens charge to win at Richland

Community's Katie Leverette (31) gets a shot off over Richland's Crystal Radford (24). (T-G Photo by Jasen Richardson) [Click to enlarge] [Order this photo]

LYNNVILLE -- It was all she wrote when Community hit the road Friday night for their second and last Hall of Fame basketball game of the season. The Viqueens exploded in the first half and demanded control early in a 74-41 victory over Richland.

The fast-paced Unionville girls outscored the Lady Raiders 45-23 in the first half and pressured them into turnovers. Aubrey Boyce led the boards for Community and scored 11 of her 15 points in the first quarter.

"These last few days since our last game, I think the biggest thing we've worked on is being aggressive on defense and taking it to the hole on offense," Community coach Allison Layne said. "I think the girls really did a good job out there the first quarter. It was an excellent job of executing the plays and taking the ball to the hole."

The Purple and Gold (1-1) boasted three other girls in double digits -- Megan Smith 13, Megan Busbee 12, and Kelli Donavan 12, including three 3-pointers.

"It's awesome having four girls in double digits," Layne said. "That's what you always want. You want as many people as you can get into double digits and as many people as you can to score. Playing team ball is extremely hard to guard. It's impressive that we had that tonight."

The Viqueens slowed down a little in the second half but were able to hold onto the lead. They still managed to outscore the Lynnville girls 13-5 in the third quarter and tossed in 16 points in the final stanza.

"The third quarter was kind of a letdown," Layne said. "We seemed like when we came back out we were a little rocky. We didn't score exactly like we wanted to. We were really trying to work on our third quarter (execution), just to get back into the same routine we had in the first quarter."

Smith and Busbee snagged nine rebounds apiece for Community. Boyce added six.

The Viqueens were 9-of-14 at the charity stripe.

Kim Lovell paced the Lady Raiders (0-2) with 13 points. Ashley Lovell added double digits and notched 11.

Community visits Santa Fe on Monday night at 6.