You’ve got to hand it to the Lady Tigers – they managed to motivate defending state champion Incarnate Word Academy. After Republic grabbed a 10-7 lead through the first five minutes of the first quarter, the state’s top-ranked team put it into high gear. Incarnate Word outscored Republic 48-14 over the final 11 minutes of the first half to take charge.
Incarnate Word (3-0), with seven players on its roster who have offers to play Division I college basketball, took a while to get rolling, and Republic didn’t back down in its first game of the year. When Rilynn Finley made a free throw to put Republic ahead 10-7, it was the high point of the night on the scoreboard for the Lady Tigers. Incarnate Word took the lead for good with 2:45 left in the first quarter.
“I thought they played with a lot of effort,” coach Kris Flood said of his team. “They kept playing hard,. It’s one of those matchups where, when you see them in person, it’s a little bit different than what you see on film. They’re just so physically strong, and they can run two or three kids in and they don’t lose a beat.”
At halftime, Flood said he challenged his team to look for small victories, including outscoring Incarnate Word for at least a quarter. And Republic did that in the third, outscoring the Red Knights 19-17 over the next eight minutes.
“We knew it was going to be a hard game, especially with it being our first game. We’ve got kids who are still (new) in a game situation… so it’s going to take some time. But we’ve got a chance to bounce back tomorrow against Central and Saturday with Jeff City,” Flood said.
Finley led Republic with 13 points. Alaina Norman scored 11 and Kaemyn Bekemeier had 10.
For Incarnate Word, ten different players scored, led by Saniah Tyler with 14.
Republic plays Springfield Central Friday at 7 pm, and Republic Tiger Sports will carry the game live.
Scoring:
Rilynn Finley 13, Alaina Norman 11, Kaemyn Bekemeier 10, Miha Nambara 7, Misora Nambara 4, Lauren Chastain 1, Hope Schatz 1
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