The Lady Tigers scored the first ten points of the 2nd half and went on to beat Mt. Vernon 54-41 to win the Lady Houn’ Invitational in Aurora. Alice Heinzler scored 14 points and Sarah Kreul added 11 to lead Republic to its second straight victory to start the season. (See full photo set below.)
The Lady Tigers struggled offensively in the 1st half, allowing Mt. Vernon to stay close. The Lady Mountaineers grabbed a 20-16 lead before Republic scored five straight to reclaim the lead. The Lady Tigers led 23-22 at halftime and would never trail again.
Coming out of the break, Republic stepped up its defensive intensity, forcing Mount Vernon to speed up, commit turnovers, and take bad shots. Coach Kris Flood says that was a focus of the discussion at halftime.
“(Mt. Vernon) has a tendency that if you get after them and guard them a little bit, you can get some easy baskets. We talked about picking up our intensity a little bit,” says Flood.
“We made some adjustments offensively against the zone. Still didn’t shoot the ball very well, and missed several free throws, but to come out with a win in the first week, I’m not going to complain too much.”
Midway through the 3rd quarter, the Lady Tigers had jumped to a 33-22 lead. When Alex Botkin banked in a one-handed jumper in the lane at 3rd quarter buzzer, the lead was 38-29. The Lady Tigers slowed the pace. stayed tough on defense, and hit enough free throws to hold on down the stretch.
In addition to Heinzler and Kreul in double figures, Alex Botkin and Kayla Bartelsmeyer had eight points apiece for Republic.
