Community will look to steady its footing tonight when the Ironmen host Peoria High at 6 p.m., after falling 64-28 at Washington on Dec. 15.

Head coach Mr. Dave Feeney said the reset is less about reinventing the wheel and more about returning to what worked early against the 10-0 Washington Panthers.

The contest against the Panthers swung hard in the second quarter. After the teams traded leads early, Community hung around in the first half before Washington took control with a 42-0 run that included a scoreless third quarter for the Ironmen.

The loss, Feeney said, came down to “same things” the Ironmen have struggled with early in the season: “turnovers and valuing the ball.”

Still, Feeney said the film did not start with the 42-0 run.

After the game, Feeney said, his focus was on “a lot of positives from the first quarter, the first 12 to 13 minutes of that game.”

“We want to make sure that we’re getting a shot each time down the floor, and then trying to control a little bit of the tempo of the game,” Feeney said. “I thought in the first 12 minutes of that game, we did a pretty good job of controlling the tempo, and then once they started to get hot, we kind of gave in.”

That moment—when Community stopped dictating terms—is what Feeney wants his team to learn from heading into the game against Peoria High.

Community enters the conference matchup at 3-6 overall and 1-1 in the Big 12 while Peoria is still searching for its first win at 0-9 overall and 0-3 in league play.

And for the Ironmen, the formula against Peoria is straightforward: convert high-percentage shots, value the ball, control the tempo and make post touches matter.

Offensively, the Ironmen’s identity is built on spacing and outside shots as they attempt 21 3-pointers per game and shoot 31.6%.

But, Feeney said, the quality of those looks often depends on whether players are shooting in rhythm.

“One, the best three-point looks means that my shoulders are already square, I’m not [shooting] off the dribble,” Feeney said.

To create those shots, he said, Community has to collapse the defense and play inside-out, using post touches to stabilize possessions and relieve pressure on the guards.

“One way that we can relieve pressure on our guards is by feeding the post,” Feeney said. “We’re trying to get our bigs also to understand that when we throw the ball to them inside, that they’re really then the de facto point guard,” setting up a “kick-out three, the easiest three in basketball.”

Feeney pointed to post touches for Annie Oliver and Jocelynn Schilb as a way to keep the offense from speeding up and to help Community stay composed longer than it did at Washington.

But post touches only matter, Feeney said, if Community protects the possessions that lead to them.

Through nine games, the Ironmen average 20.3 turnovers per game, a jump from 12.6 last season, and Feeney said the goal is not perfection so much as eliminating the mistakes that turn immediately into points.

“I’m willing to accept a dead ball turnover,” Feeney said. “Live ball turnovers get a little bit harder.”

What he does not want, he said, are simple interceptions.

“You can have a pass tipped, you can have it deflected, it can be contested,” Feeney said, “but to have a team intercept your pass, that should be a definite no-no.”

And with less margin for error, Community will be trying to do it without one of its rotation pieces.

Sophia Mack is out with a shoulder injury suffered late in Community’s win over Champaign Central on Dec. 12. 

Mack averaged 5.0 points and 3.9 rebounds through eight games, giving Community another option in the paint and on the glass.

Feeney said the timing of the injury hurts because Mack was trending up.

“The thing that stinks,” about the injury is “the timing of it.” Mack “was playing her best basketball when she went down,” Feeney said. “But more importantly, she was running the floor, she was defending, she was rebounding. She gives us just some versatility.”

Even so, Feeney said the bigger test Friday is whether Community can bring the same stubbornness it showed early at Washington and sustain it for 32 minutes.

The Lions, Feeney said, have “an outstanding guard” in 5-foot-7 sophomore Ciara Stokes. 

Stokes, Feeney said, is a lefty who “wants to get in the paint and wants to create almost everything.”

But if Community can limit Stokes and stretch its best basketball beyond a quarter, Feeney said the Ironmen can take advantage of a young Peoria roster and build steadier footing in conference play. 

The challenge, he said, is making the details hold for 32 minutes—defending without giving up “easys.”