Republic allowed 17 points to Sullivan in the first quarter, but only 22 the rest of the way, as they stayed undefeated with a 50-39 win in a battle of state-ranked opponents.
Republic entered the game ranked second in the state, and Sullivan was ranked third. Sullivan used physical defense and a dominating presence on the glass to nab a 17-8 lead after one quarter. The Lady Tigers made only two field goals in the quarter, limiting their ability to get into the full-court press that has paid dividends earlier in the season.
Republic coach Kris Flood says the cold start offensively didn’t faze his players.
“I don’t even know if they think about it,” he says. “We’ve got a lot of good shooters and they’ve got that shooter’s mentality. If they’re off, they’re going to keep trying to shoot.”
In the second quarter, Alice Heinzler hit two three-pointers in quick succession to get the Lady Tigers back in the game.
“They feed off that. If they (hit shots), we can get into the press and just go from there,” says Flood. “I thought they all did a good job. We really had to fight and battle.”
Republic’s press caused problems for Sullivan in the 2nd quarter, but the Lady Tigers picked up their intensity in the half-court, too. Sullivan managed only a single free-throw in the second period, as Republic clawed its way back to tie the score 18-18 at halftime.
The Lady Eagles scored the first four points of the 3rd quarter to lead 22-18, but that was as big as their lead would get the rest of the way. Sarah Kreul scored a bucket and a free throw to cut the lead to one point, and a Heinzler jumper gave Republic its first lead since 2-0 at the 4:56 mark of in the 3rd. Two possessions later, another outback by Kreul made it 27-22 to give Republic its biggest lead of the game. At the end of the third quarter, it was 31-26 Republic.
The key point of the final quarter came around the five minute mark. Sarah Kreul stole an in-bounds pass after a Republic bucket and scored, running the lead to 37-30. Then Kreul stole the ball at Sullivan’s end of the floor and scored again on the subsequent Republic possession to run the lead to nine. From there, Republic hit its free throws to secure the victory.
For the game, Republic hit 23 of 28 free throws. Sullivan went to the line 23 times, but made only 13.
Heinzler led all scorers with 24 points. Kreul had 14 — 12 of them in the 2nd half. Sullivan was led by Alley Lucas, with 15 points. Taylor Lucas had 13 for the Lady Eagles.
Republic improves its record to 13-0. Sullivan suffers its first loss of the season, falling to 13-1.