For the first time since last year’s state championship game, the Republic Lady Tigers needed to make a play in the final minute to win the game. And make a play they did.
With the Lady Tigers leading Webb City on the road by one point, Micah Mansker found Alex Botkin alone on the right block with 20 seconds remaining. Mansker’s nifty bounce pass led to a Botkin layup, giving Republic a 47-44 lead.
The Lady Tigers got a defensive stop at the other end, then Alice Heinzler drained two free throws to seal the 49-44 victory.
The victory runs Republic’s record to 18-0 this season, and perhaps more importantly, tests the composure of a team that has barely been challenged all year.
“It was a really good win. We needed that,” says Alice Heinzler, who scored 24 points to lead the Lady Tigers. “It tests us to see where we’re at. We all feel great after this win.”
Republic trailed for much of the way against Webb City (16-4), in the most hostile environment they’ve faced this season. The Cardinals led 10-9 after one quarter and 22-21 at halftime. It’s the first time all year Republic had trailed at half.
“Definitely it’s a lot different than home, because they rally every time. You have to keep your composure as a team,” says Heinzler. “You have to keep really focused and make sure you don’t get flustered, even though that did happen a couple of times.”
Coming out of the halftime break, Heinzler scored seven straight points to take a 28-22 lead, but Webb City hit back with eight straight points of its own. It was 34-32 Webb City going into the final period.
From there, the knock-down game went back and forth. Republic ran its lead to seven points at 41-34, only to have Webb City close the gap back down to one. That’s where the lead stayed until Botkin’s layup with 20 seconds remaining.
Head coach Kris Flood says his team struggled in the difficult environment at times, partly because they’ve been in so few close games all year.
“We really haven’t experienced a game where we had to do things at the end,” he says. “I thought we made a few bad decisions with the ball with about 3 1/2 minutes to go. But we’ll take it, and next time we’re in this situation, and if we don’t learn from this one, that’s on us.”
Flood says the physical nature of the game also posed a challenge to his team.
“That was the most physical game I think I’ve ever encountered,” says Flood. “It went both ways. It was just tough. We knew coming down here it was going to be a physical game.”
Besides Heinzler’s 24 points, Alex Botkin had 11 and Sarah Kreul added eight to account for the bulk of Republic’s scoring.
The Lady Tigers improve to 2-0 in conference play.
The Republic boys will be in Webb City tomorrow night.