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Viqueens ride 2nd half past Lady Champs

By RICKEY CLARDY ~ Sports Writer
Posted 1/24/22

UNIONVILLE — The Community Viqueens broadened their halftime lead by scoring 29 second-half points while holding the Cascade Lady Champions to just six as the Viqueens pulled away for a 59-21 …

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Viqueens ride 2nd half past Lady Champs

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UNIONVILLE — The Community Viqueens broadened their halftime lead by scoring 29 second-half points while holding the Cascade Lady Champions to just six as the Viqueens pulled away for a 59-21 win in a District 7-AA contest Thursday night.
Community (13-7, 2-0) never trailed in the game and held a slim lead before going on a run that started late in the first quarter. 
M.J. Simmons scored seven points to lead the Viqueens, but Cascade (2-15, 0-3) stayed close as Makenna Lamb drilled a trey to cut the Community advantage to 10-7 with 3:24 left. 
The Viqueens scored the last five points of the quarter and led 15-7 heading to the second quarter.
The momentum continued for the Viqueens as Breanna Whitaker opened the quarter with the first seven points to complete a 12-0 Community run and gave the Viqueens a 22-7 lead with 4:30 remaining. 
The Lady Champs played the Viqueens even the rest of the quarter as Community took a 30-15 lead into the intermission.
"We came out and started well and wanted to set the tone on defense," Coach Cody Pierce of the Viqueens said. "We had a few turnovers early, but we settled in and played a good first half and got a good lead and were able to maintain it."
Simmons scored six points while Whitaker added five in the third quarter as the Viqueens exhibited patience by finding the best available shot. 
Meanwhile, the Community defense held the Lady Champions to four points as the Viqueens took a 45-19 lead to the final quarter.
Haley Mitchell scored seven points as the Viqueens extended their fourth-quarter lead. 
Community scored the final 12 points of the game while the Lady Champs could only manage a lone field goal as the Viqueens stayed unbeaten in district play.   
Simmons and Mitchell each had 17 points to lead the Viqueens. 
Whitaker joined her teammates in double figures with 14 points.
Sophie Ray and Jordan Green each scored six points to lead Cascade.
The Viqueens were a perfect 10-of-10 at the free throw line while the Lady Champions missed their only two foul shots.
"They always come to play when it's Cascade and they're ready for that game," Coach Kendall Hampton of the Lady Champions said. 
"Very physical tonight and they outsize us quite a bit and that's something we had a hard time adjusting to."
"You've got to give them credit, that's where they went," Hampton said.  "They fed their posts really well and got us in foul trouble a little bit."  
"We were really patient on offense and took some really good shots and shot a good percentage tonight," Pierce said. 
"We defended the ball well and put a lot of pressure on them," Pierce added.  "They had a hard time running their offense."   
"We had a hard time getting our guards open and we didn't shoot very well," Hampton said. "Those two things together make it difficult to win a basketball game."         
Community returned to district play and celebrated homecoming against Grundy County Friday night while Cascade travels to Watertown for a non-district game Monday night.                                                                           
        
Cascade          7   8    4   2 — 21
Community  15  15  15 14 — 59
 
Cascade: Sophie Ray 6, Jordan Green 6, Lani Jones 2, Caroline Stone, Annabelle Calvert, Makenna Lamb 3, Maribel Delarosa 2, Abby Littrell 2, Hailey Giel, Kaydence Miller, Laina Carter, Bella Rhodes.
Community: M.J. Simmons 17, Haley Mitchell 17, Breanna Whitaker 14, Zoey Dixon 4, Addison Brothers, Shelby Cawthon 4, Jacey Collier 3, Izzy Martinez, Chloe West, Stevie Dickenson, Addison Cothran, Audrina Bearden, Lexi Berman.
3-Point goals: Cascade (1): Lamb; Community (3): Whitaker 2, Collier.
Halftime score: Community 30, Community 15.