The Lady Tigers have lived and died by defense all year, and with a district championship up for grabs, they thrived on defense Thursday night. Republic swarmed and stymied Willard all night in a 48-31 win, capturing the program’s 10th district championship in the last 12 seasons.
The win also avenged a loss at Willard earlier in the season during which Willard’s physical defense pushed around and frustrated Republic’s shooters. Republic turned the tables Thursday, allowing just two points in the first quarter and only 11 points in the first half.
“It’s a great group of kids. When it’s on the line, they play,” said coach Kris Flood.
Senior Delaney Smith was one of the leaders of Republic’s stifling defense, and she was ready to even the score for the earlier loss at Willard.
“I think we were all just pumped to get another matchup against them. We knew our game last time we didn’t really play very good or play very hard, and we knew what we had to do,” she said. Smith didn’t realize just how good her team’s defense was until the teams were eight minutes into the game.
“After the first quarter I looked at the scoreboard and I was like, ‘Wow, they only have two points. That’s crazy,'” Smith said.
Freshman Kaemyn Bekemeier was playing in her first district championship game, and she had her nerves under control until a conversation with boys coach Tim Brown earlier today.
“Coach Brown came up to me and … asked me if I was nervous, and I kind of got nervous then. But I was just super duper excited… to do it for these girls, these seniors. I did not want it to be their last game,” Bekemeier said.
Republic outscored Willard in all four quarters, but a big first quarter set the tone for the night. The Lady Tigers grabbed a 10-2 lead at the end of the first quarter and led 21-11 at halftime. It was 29-17 after three.
Flood said he wasn’t surprised to see his players come out strong.
“I thought we had a really good practice yesterday. It seemed like they were really dialed in and focused,” he said. “I could tell from the walk-through and pre-game, they were ready to go and ready to get after it. Several of them have gone through this, and they just really came out and put the top on them defensively. We did a very good job on the boards.”
Republic outscored Willard 19-14 in the fourth quarter to pull away. A three-pointer by Savana Powell-Goodman early in the period stretched the lead to double-digits and may have been the shot that put the game away. From there, Republic sealed the game at the line, making 16 free throws in the fourth quarter.
“We hit a ton of free throws down the stretch that really were critical. We were a little more aggressive tonight than we were at Willard,” Flood said.
Republic improves to 19-9. They advance to play Kickapoo (18-10) in the state sectionals at Webb City next Wednesday at 6 pm.
Individual scoring: Kaemyn Bekemeier 24, Savana Powell-Goodman 14, Kaitlyn Ragsdale 5, Jade Kirby 2, Jazzy Kirby 2, Chloe Burton 1