The Republic Lady Tigers buckled down on defense in the 2nd half, as they beat Neosho 58-44 to improve to 19-0 overall and 3-0 in the Central Ozark Conference. Alice Heinzler led the Lady Tigers with 17 points, and Alex Botkin added 15. Sarah Kreul scored 11, despite leaving the game with a broken nose in the 3rd quarter.
Neosho (8-11) got a shot of confidence when they scored the first seven points of the game. They led 15-11 after the first quarter. Republic clawed its way back to force a tie at halftime, 31-31.
“Way too many easy looks, way too many easy shots,” Republic coach Kris Flood said of the Lady Tigers first-half defense. “I thought we did some stuff well offensively, but we’ve got to get the screws kind of tightened down on the defensive part. It’s still some little things that we probably need to tweak.”
In the 3rd quarter, as they’ve done all season, the Lady Tigers stepped up the defensive pressure. Republic allowed only 13 points in the 2nd half, and gradually built a lead. When Kreul took an elbow to the face on a flagrant foul, she made one of two free throws before exiting the game. That made the Republic lead 39-33.
With Kreul on the bench, Heinzler scored three straight buckets, including two three-pointers, to extend Republic’s lead to 12, 47-35, at the end of the third period. From there, the outcome was never seriously in doubt.
“I guess we just wake up, and 3rd quarter we decide we’re going to play,” says Flood. “Mentally, we need to come out, what we do in the 3rd quarter we need to do in the 1st quarter.”
The JV Lady Tigers also won to stay undefeated. They’re 12-0 after beating Neosho 67-12.
The two victories make Republic’s girls basketball teams 78-0 this year so far. Next up for the Lady Tigers, a big road game at Nixa on Thursday night.