The Republic Lady Tigers used a defensive crackdown in the 3rd quarter to pull away from Kickapoo and set up a 43-33 season-opening victory at home. The Lady Tigers led 20-19 at halftime, but outscored Kickapoo 10-4 in the 3rd quarter and 13-10 in the 4th.
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Republic overcame 21 turnovers as they adjusted to life without the five senior starters who graduated after last season. Coach Kris Flood says he knew it would take some time for the newcomers to get their feet under them.
“I expected that a little bit,” he says. “Just looking at those kids, there’s not a lot of kids who’ve logged a lot of varsity minutes right now. It’s going to take a little bit of time to gel together a little bit and get used to each other.”
Michayla Shanks led the Lady Tigers with 14 points, including two three-pointers in the first half. Brooke Stanfield added eight points for the Lady Tigers, who struggled offensively most of the night.
“Give Kickapoo a lot of credit there. They came out and were very aggressive in their three quarter press, and in half court. Now we’ve had a little bit of experience with it, and we’ll make some adjustments from there.”
Logan Flood and Micah Mansker had five points apiece. Jordan Kabetske and Tori Taylor added four each, and Jade Sawyer had three.
The Lady Tigers improve to 1-0 this season. They’re back in action Thursday.
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