Republic won the championship of the Stephanie Phillips Classic at Kickapoo High School Saturday, beating Jefferson City 47-34 to finish a perfect weekend. It’s the second consecutive year Republic has won the tournament.
“To get three wins out of this one against three pretty good opponents, I’m proud of them,” said coach Kris Flood. “They played hard, they always kept us in it, and gave us a chance.”
Saturday, the Lady Tigers powered through in a defensive struggle against the Lady Jays, flashing just enough offense to make the difference in the second and fourth quarters. Republic outscored Jefferson City by ten points in the second quarter to take a 24-14 lead into halftime, then held off the Lady Jays down the stretch by scoring eight of the game’s last 11 points.
“We’re still making some simple mistakes with our turnovers and sometimes our shot decisions,” Flood said. “But they’ll scrap. I think we’re really making some good strides defensively.”
Republic finished the weekend with a perfect 3-0 record. The Lady Tigers beat Blue Springs South and Columbia Battle to set up their title shot Saturday. A loss by host Kickapoo earlier Saturday had put Republic in position to win the championship by beating the Lady Jays.
Republic’s depth was a big factor in Saturday’s win. Republic got 18 of its 47 points off the bench — 10 by Lanney Strong and eight by Molly Mason. Misora Nambara and Lauren Chastain each scored nine for the Lady Tigers, who improved to 5-2.
Flood said he thinks the team will continue to get better from here.
“I still think there’s more things we can get better at, and they’ll grow,” said Flood. “They’ll get better and more accustomed to what we’re trying to do. I like the direction we’re heading.”
Score by Quarters
Jefferson City 7 7 8 12 – 34
Republic 7 24 7 16 – 47
Individual Scoring
Lanney Strong 10, Lauren Chastain 9, Misora Nambara 9, Molly Mason 8, Molly Blades 6, Alaina Norman 3, Alex Price 2