When the Lady Tigers’ basketball season ended with an overtime loss in the district championship game, head coach Kris Flood knew it was the end of something special.
“I told (the seniors), ‘I’ve been at this quite a while, and it seems like there are certain group, they leave eras.’ And I told the seniors they’re going to leave an era that I remember when I get out of this,” Flood said. “They’ve given the program three great years here in a row.”
Two years ago, Republic went to the Show-Me Showdown. Last year, they almost did it again, losing in overtime in the state quarterfinals. And this year, their overtime loss in the district championship game came against the #2 team in Class 6, Kickapoo.
But when one era ends, another begins. And a glance at the junior varsity and freshman teams in Flood’s basketball program indicate that the upcoming era may be another solid one. The freshman Lady Tigers finished with a 17-0 record. They completed a spotless season despite losing some of their best players to the JV and varsity teams. And the JV team, too, finished with an unbeaten record, at 23-0. In addition to their success, the varsity team got big contributions from sophomore Kaemyn Bekemeier and freshman Rilynn Finley, among others.
The closest game of the year for the Republic freshmen was against Ozark, and Alaina Norman’s buzzer-beater won it for Republic.
Freshman coach Blaine Cullen and JV coach Tori Mooneyham said they knew they’d have a talented group of players to choose from this year, even after the varsity roster filled up. Cullen saw the talent of last his team during middle school, when they lost just one game in two seasons.
“You always go watch several other games and just kind of evaluate what you’ve got coming,” he said. “You don’t want to look too far ahead, because some of them get pulled up .”
Mooneyham worried that she might miss out on a chance to coach the talented group because of issues related to COVID, especially after missing an entire season as track coach last spring.
“I stressed over that, because I didn’t want to lose the opportunity. We lost track season last year, and didn’t get to finish out with a good group of kids. I was worried about that for this group.”
The only question for Cullen and Mooneyham was how good their teams could be, especially knowing some of their players would be bumped up to the next level. At the beginning of the year, Finley played mostly junior varsity. But “as the year went on, we kept losing her a little bit at a time. The other kids stepped up and held their own.”
Cullen, too, has seen his players adjust to changes in the roster. He said those adjustments have made the team better up and down the lineup.
“You can always tell there’s one or two kids who are probably going to be pulled up to JV. And I think it’s better for the kids . I think about Gracie Woods or Molly Blades – you’ve got to put the ball in their hands a little bit more than they’re used to,” Cullen said. “Alex Price and Alaina Norman … have had to score a little bit more than they’re used to. So I think it’s good, because you put them in different situations, and I think that’s only going to build for the next three years.”
Alex Price, a freshman who split time with JV, saw those adjustments first-hand as the roster changed during the season.
“Our biggest challenge was losing some of the players that we had previously, because they got moved up,” she said. “So we had to figure out who could step up and be the leaders on the court.”
Rilynn Finley worked her way into an increasing varsity role as the season went on, and she led the team in scoring with 23 points against Kickapoo in the district championship game.
“Varsity, you have to be ready for everything, because it’s a lot faster and the girls are older and stronger,” she said. “So you just have to be more aware of what’s happening on the court.”
The roster-shuffling strategy wouldn’t work as well if players at every level weren’t willing to roll with it. For Finley, the step up to varsity was easier because of how older players treated her.
“They’re all really nice and welcoming. It was really easy to get along with everyone,” she said.
Cullen said putting players into challenging new roles as freshmen is part of what helps him do his primary job, which is to get players ready to make the next step up to the junior varsity level.
“My role is to make sure that they understand what’s going to happen in the next three years. It’s kind of starting from the ground up,” he said. “Fundamentals are kind of big between eighth grade and freshman year? And that was the thing about this group – they came in (and) already had those, so my role specifically is to make sure to build them to do exactly what Coach Mooneyham wants for next year, and then what Coach Flood (expects).”
If you’ve seen a Lady Tigers’ JV game, you know Mooneyham continues to coach her players from start to finish – even if her team is leading by 30 points. There’s a reason for that, and it has nothing to do with the score of the game.
“As a coach, my job is to get every kid ready for the next level. So if you’re a coach and you just focus on your top five, then you’re not being a good coach. So I make it a point to make sure that I’m focusing on every kid, so that when does take someone, the next kid is ready to step up.
“I’ll watch a game and a team may be up by 30 points and the coach just sits there. And that bothers me, because I don’t care that they’re not your top five on the floor anymore. You still coach them. I just try to make it a point to coach every kid is hard as I coach the top five.”
Mooneyham has been a part of the basketball staff since Flood came on board as head coach, and has coached in Republic six seasons. Flood said that continuity is a big part of the program’s success.
“Obviously they’ve been very important. It’s helped that we’ve been able to have the same staff over several years,” he said. “Each one of them have their different roles. Having that continuity has really helped, and I think everybody’s on the same page. It makes a tremendous difference.”
Flood said the success of the program at every level has a snowball effect that carries over from year to year.
“The kids know expectations are high and they play at a high level. They’re wanting to get to that varsity level and help us compete. As we do get up to that varsity level, sometimes it gets tougher, but Coach Mooneyham and Cullen have prepared the kids for that, and … they’re ready to step in and ready to contribute, whether it’s coming right in and starting, or whether they’re coming off the bench.”
The high expectations lead to competitiveness for roster spots, and it also drives younger players to succeed as the classes before them have done.
“As a group, we really want to be able to play at the next level, and that’s what pushes us to practice harder every single day and play harder,” said Alex Price. “It really helps motivate us.”
Mooneyham said this year’s JV team, whose undefeated season helped her reach 400 career coaching wins, works hard, but is “the quietest team I’ve ever had. Their personalities are quiet, but the way they play on the floor is not. If you want to play, you’re going to play hard. And that was not at a hard task, to get these kids to play hard, because it’s just built within them.”
For Cullen, this season will carry a lot of fun memories in addition to the 17 wins.
“They’re good kids. You’d come to practice every day, and even if you’re in a bad mood, they’re kind of fun to be around, and they just work so hard,” he said. You know what you’re going to get, night in and night out. You tell them to do something and you’ve got to tell them one time and they’re going to do it, and they’re going to do it the best they can.
“They’re unselfish. They’ll give up a good look for a better look to somebody else, and you just don’t find that very much.”
And Cullen, like the other two coaches, has already started to put the pieces together for next season.
“I think you always kind of look ahead. I was talking to Tori when we were coming home from Ozark, and (I said), ‘Okay, let’s see, what’s going on for next year.’”
Next year can’t get here soon enough for the Lady Tigers.