Jade Sawyer’s free throw with two seconds remaining completed a frantic comeback as Republic overcame a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter to defeat Columbia Rock Bridge 56-55.
The win improves Republic’s record to 15-1, and coupled with a loss by No. 1 Parkway North, puts the Lady Tigers in position to be ranked No. 1 in Class 5 for the first time in program history.
Fittingly, the victory came against the team that had knocked Republic out of the playoffs during its first two seasons in Class 5: four-time defending champion Columbia Rock Bridge. The Bruins are in the middle of a rebuilding year, but still managed to give Republic all it wanted for three quarters. Madison Treece, a 6’4″ junior, torched Republic for 23 points. The Bruins beat Republic’s pressure for layup after layup, and took a 10 point lead into the final period.
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“We didn’t want to lose to this team again,” says Sawyer. “So we bonded together and picked up our intensity and decided we were going to win.”
The Lady Tigers cut the lead to six points right away. They whittled it down to two points, and finally tied the game when Brooke Stanfield stole the ball at the defensive end and fired the ball up-court to Alexis Ladwig. Ladwig found Taylor Fergen cutting to the basket for a wide-open layup to tie the game 53-53.
Rock Bridge’s Bri Ellis made two free throws to give the Bruins the lead again, but Fergen answered immediately, blowing by her defender for a second straight layup, tying the game again.
Republic’s defense got a stop on the next possession and held the ball for the final minute. After a time out, Stanfield and Fergen both missed shots that would have won the game, but Sawyer grabbed a rebound and was fouled on a shot with 2.7 seconds remaining.
Rock Bridge coach Jill Nagel called a time out to ice Sawyer. After the time out, Sawyer missed the first but made the second, giving Republic the lead for the first time since early in the 3rd quarter. To finish it off, Sawyer intercepted a baseball pass down-court and ran out the clock.
Republic out-scored Rock Bridge 24-13 in the fourth quarter to complete the comeback.
“It basically came down to intensity. We hadn’t had intensity the first three quarters,” says coach Kris Flood. “I just said we had to get some stops. We had to be more aggressive on both ends of the floor.”
Flood says he hopes the comeback sparks the Lady Tigers heading into the homestretch of the season.
“I would give anything to bottle that fourth quarter up and we take that before every game and be able to just come out like that.”
The Lady Tigers step back into conference play next Thursday when they host Webb City.
