The Lady Tigers overcame a rough shooting night and played just enough defense down the stretch to close out their regular season with a 53-46 on the road at Rogersville Wednesday night. The game was a match-up between the champions of the Central Ozark Conference Large and Small divisions, and for most of the night, Rogersville stayed stride-for-stride with the No. 1-ranked Lady Tigers.
Republic made just 34% of its shots from the field, and shot just 4-for-16 from beyond the three-point arc. Brooke Stanfield led Republic with 19 points — 12 of them in the second half, after it became apparent the outside shooting wasn’t going to come around. Taylor Fergen had 11 points, including two of Republic’s four three-pointers. Jordan Kabetske scored ten points.
Coach Kris Flood says he was worried the Lady Tigers might come out flat after winning a conference championship against Branson Monday.
“Having a really emotional game Monday night, and having to really work hard on that one…I expected them maybe not to be quite as focused,” he says. “One of the positives we can take away is we definitely didn’t have an A game. We really struggled offensively and had some moments there defensively. Rebounding, again, was one of our Achilles heels, but they were able to come through it and get a win.
“We don’t want to have another one of those, or…all these wins would be for naught.”
Brylee Argo and Jade Sawyer each scored four points for Republic. Alexis Ladwig had three, and Logan Flood added two.
Republic finishes its regular season with a 23-1 record.
Republic opens district play next Monday in Joplin at 6 p.m.
