Sophomore Brooke Stanfield scored 17 points as the Republic Lady Tigers beat state-ranked Webb City 64-47 to advance to the state quarterfinals for the second time in three years. Republic pulled away down the stretch, outscoring the Lady Cardinals 25-13 in the 4th quarter, to march into the round of eight.
The Lady Tigers did it with stingy defense against the two-headed Webb City offense, led by Mikaela Burgess and Desirea Buerge. The two had combined for 51 of Webb City’s 62 points in their first meeting. Wednesday, Burgess and Buerge combined for 32–not nearly enough when the rest of the team isn’t scoring. Burgess had 19 points, but was visibly frustrated by the Lady Tigers’ defense most of the night. Buerge had 13. And Kaitlyn Beason was the only other Webb City player with more than one field goal.
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“I’m really proud of the way we executed defensively. I thought we did a really good job, at least in the 1st half, of limiting them to one shot,” says coach Kris Flood.
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“In the 2nd half, we had some spots there where we hit some big shots when we needed it. Shanks hit a big three when the momentum had shifted and that was a big shot in the arm.”
The three-pointer for Shanks, early in the 4th quarter, stemmed the tide of a Webb City comeback. It turned the momentum back to the Lady Tigers and they capitalized.
“Towards the end of the 3rd quarter, it looked like we were a little shaky. But from then on, we attacked and we were aggressive,” says Flood. ” We hit our free throws and were getting stops, and we finished the game off well.”
Micah Mansker chipped in with 10 points for Republic. Tori Taylor scored nine, Brylee Argo had eight, Michayla Shanks and Jordan Kabetske had seven apiece, Jade Sawyer scored five, and Logan Flood scored one.
The Lady Tigers advance to the quarterfinals at noon Saturday in Bolivar, on the campus of Southwest Baptist University. They’ll play Marshfield at noon. The Lady Jays beat Republic in Marshfield in an overtime game earlier this season.
