The Community Viqueens, after trailing by eight points at halftime, completed the Senior Night comeback against the visiting Grundy County Lady Jackets on Thursday, 49-45.

It was a 30-point second-half effort from the home side as they took a huge step forward in their quest to finish as the second or third seed for the upcoming district tournament. 

Community had three players end in double-figures scoring with Alyssa White, Brooklyn Yoes, and Anna Haskins ending with 14, 14, and 11 points respectively. The Viqueens shot 77% from the free throw line as well, going 20/26 to close out the win as they scored more than a third of their points from the charity stripe. The visiting Lady Jackets, on the other hand, finished 8/13 (62%) at the free throw line.

Grundy County was led by Carlee Smart and Kasadee Crabtree, both of whom scored a game-high 15 points. Unfortunately for the visitors, Kallie Parson, after scoring 32 on Tuesday, was held to only eight points. She did not make a field goal in the second half even before she got in foul trouble, mustering only one point in the final 16 minutes. 

Community trailed 17-9 after the first quarter as Grundy seemingly got everything they wanted in the paint. The Lady Jackets’ interior defense troubled the Viqueens’ post players, forcing tough shots and now allowing any second-chance opportunities. 

The hosts began to tighten up the screws a bit in the second quarter defensively, holding Grundy to just 10 points, but they were unable to gain any ground by halftime. The Lady Jackets would go into the halftime locker room maintaining an eight-point lead, 27-19.

The extended halftime break from Community holding Senior Night festivities over the intermission seemed to greatly benefit the Viqueens in the third quarter. Community would outscore Grundy 12-4 as Grundy struggled to find answers offensively. 

To compound the problem, Parson had to play almost the entire third quarter differently with three fouls, and the Viqueens managed to draw the fourth on her with two-and-a-half minutes to go in the quarter to relegate her to the bench to begin the final frame with the two teams tied at 31.

Community, closing the quarter on a 5-0 run with Parson on the bench, continued their momentum offensively in the game’s final eight minutes. However, Grundy County would have a response, and the two teams traded baskets in an extremely tight fourth quarter that saw neither team take a lead larger than four points. 

This would culminate in Callee Smart having the ball for Grundy while trailing 47-45 with under 30 seconds to go. After running some motion to get the ball back in Smart’s hands after she had just hit a three-pointer mere minutes ago, could not get any separation and threw up a contested step-back three with 20 seconds left. Community would snag the rebound, call timeout, and then hit both free throws to hold on in a thriller, 49-45.

Grundy County falls to 15-7 (3-4) with a rematch coming in Coalmont on Friday for the second night of a back-to-back.

Community improves to 9-16 (4-3) on the year and will head to Grundy County on Friday as they attempt to secure the second seed in next week’s district tournament.