Jazzy Kirby had the ball 23 feet from the basket and just enough time to fire off a shot. With one second left, she let it fly over two Rolla defenders, and the ball banked in as the buzzer sounded, giving Republic a 57-54 win in their final game of the Ozark Lady Classic.
Kirby’s game-winner capped a furious comeback by Republic, who had trailed by 12 points, 50-38, with four and a half minutes remaining in the game. But the Lady Tigers amped up the defensive pressure, became more efficient with their own offensive possessions, and chipped away at Rolla’s lead. With 1:01 remaining and Rolla leading 53-50, Republic’s full-court pressure forced a ten-second turnover. On the ensuing possession, Savana Powell-Goodman fired in a 12-foot jumper from the left wing to cut the lead to one point.
Rolla’s Jessica Pritchett made one free throw with :40 left, but when she missed her second, Kaemyn Bekemeier drew a foul in the battle for the rebound. Bekemeier made both to tie the game.
Rolla had a chance to take the lead, but missed a layup, got the rebound, then turned it over, setting up Kirby’s final shot. As the clock wound down, the play Kris Flood had called during a timeout broke down, forcing Kirby to improvise.
“We wanted to run a play similar to that, but it just got a little disrupted. We had people out of position,” Flood said. “Luckily… we still ran it halfway and Jazzy did the right thing. She at least took the shot and got it off.”
Kirby said in a game-ending situation, she often likes to drive to the basket to try to draw a foul, but that wasn’t an option in this case. “Since we kind of messed up the play, I didn’t have time to look at the clock, so I just knew we had to hurry and get a shot up,” she said. “When I went up, my follow-through was kind of weird, but I… stared at it because I had a feeling it was going off the board.”
The game-winning shot salvaged a tough tournament for the Lady Tigers, who lost their first two games – to Incarnate Word and Jefferson City – by a combined 46 points.
“It was a good team effort today. When the week started, I told the kids that considering the competition we were going to play, if we could get through this thing 2-2 or 3-1, I consider it a positive,” said Flood.
Kaemyn Bekemeier played for the first time since injuring her thumb after the season opener, and she led Republic with 23 points. Savana Powell-Goodman was also in double figures with 12.
The win over Rolla improved Republic’s record to 2-2. The Lady Tigers are off until a December 21 game at Kickapoo.
Republic Scoring
Kaemyn Bekemeier 23, Savana Powell-Goodman 12, Jazzy Kirby 8, Kaitlyn Ragsdale 6, Rilynn Finley 5
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