The Lady Tigers gutted out a win in a defensive struggle with the Olathe East Hawks Thursday, opening the Nixa Invitational with a 40-35 victory. Halli Bartelsmeyer led Republic with 15 points.
Neither team shot very well in the first half, but that was primarily because defenders were cranking up the pressure on shooters on both ends of the floor. Both teams struggled to find an offensive rhythm, and it took nearly five minutes for Olathe East to score its first points of the night. But even with that slow start for Olathe East, Republic was unable to gain much of an advantage, and the Lady Tigers led only 8-4 at the end of the first quarter.
“They do a good job of getting out and getting after you on the perimeter. They’ve got some kids with athleticism, and they can get out and guard, and we had talked about that,” said coach Kris Flood. “We knew that could happen. They really took us out of sync, especially in the first half, on offense.”
Republic pulled ahead by seven points at 17-10, but Olathe East closed the first half on a 5-0 run to get the margin down to two points at 17-15. The Hawks tied the game right after the break ended, then took their first lead on a three-pointer at 25-22.
Instead of folding, Republic hit back. Bartelsmeyer and Delaney Smith scored consecutive buckets to give Republic the lead again. The next time down the court, Shealyn Barrett grabbed two tough offensive rebounds after missed shots to keep a possession alive for the Lady Tigers. They eventually scored on that possession to take a 28-25 lead as the third quarter ended, and it was a key moment in a game in which every possession counted.
In the fourth quarter, Republic got defensive stops on several possessions when Olathe East had a chance to take the lead. The Hawks got within a point at 35-34 with just over a minute remaining, but couldn’t take the lead again.
“We got a couple of steals there. Delaney came up with a huge steal there late in the game that really put us over the top, where we were able to stretch it out to a couple of possessions,” Flood said.
The Lady Tigers improve to 9-5. They play Nixa in the round-robin tournament’s second round Friday night.
Scoring
Halli Bartelsmeyer 15, Clara Fronabarger 13, Jade Kirby 7, Shealyn Barrett 2, Delaney Smith 2, Anna Bell 1
Farr Better Player of the Game
When Olathe East made its final run at the Lady Tigers, senior Halli Bartelsmeyer stepped up. She hit several key shots down the stretch, including two big free throws in the final minutes, and she was our Farr Better Player of the Game.
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