Savana Powell-Goodman drives the baseline in the third quarter against West Plains. She finished with seven points.

Cold Spell Dooms Republic vs. State-Ranked West Plains

Republic went cold during the second and third quarters, scoring just seven points combined over 16 minutes, in a 40-35 home loss to West Plains (#2, Class 4). The Lady Tigers fell behind by ten points early in the fourth quarter and cut the lead to two points before West Plains put the game away at the free throw line.

The Lady Tigers were playing without two regulars because of injury, but still managed to come out of the gate strong. They led 17-15 after the first quarter. Delaney Smith and Jazzy Kirby had five points apiece in the period.

When the offense went south in the second quarter, Republic’s defense kept it in the game. The Lady Tigers held West Plains to just four points, and the teams were tied 19-9 at halftime. But the third quarter was decisive for West Plains. The Lady Zizzers outscored Republic 11-5 to grab the lead and never trailed the rest of the way. Republic outscored West Plains 11-10 in the fourth quarter, but the Lady Zizzers made six of eight free throws in the fourth quarter to seal the win. West Plains finished the game 12 for 14 from the free throw line.

“I thought we really came out ready to go in the first quarter,” said coach Kris Flood. “We were executing and defensively, we did okay. I thought they adjusted a little bit in the second quarter. Then you get a little impatient and that’s where we got a little out of sync. They’re such a good team, when they get a six to eight point lead, it’s tough to come back.”

Republic will have a quick turnaround. They’ll be back at home Thursday night against Strafford.

“We don’t have much time to get a lot of things figured out,” Flood said. “We lost quite a bit of depth and we had several kids that played a lot of minutes tonight. Now we’ve got to turn right back around and play a good Strafford team Thursday, so hopefully we’ll bounce back and we’ll see a little bit what we’re made of.”

Republic falls to 10-6. West Plains is 18-1.

West Plains won the freshman game and the Republic JV won to stay unbeaten this season.

Republic scoring: Kaemyn Bekemeier 10, Savana Powell-Goodman 7, Jade Kirby 6, Delaney Smith 5, Jazzy Kirby 5, Kaitlyn Ragsdale 2
Turnovers: Republic 14, West Plains 18
Rebounds: Republic 10, West Plains 23

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