In its first meeting with Waynesville this season, Republic broke away early and cruised to a 62-29 win at Fort Leonard Wood. Monday night in the Class 6 District 5 opener, the Lady Tigers needed a little longer to find their footing — but once they did, the result was the same: a 58-34 Republic win.
Waynesville came out firing. Riley Grosvenor hit back-to-back threes to stake the Waynesville to a 6-0 lead, forcing a Republic timeout. Republic settled down after the break, scoring 11 of the quarter’s final 15 points to take an 11-9 lead into the second.
From there, Republic took over. Charlie Hagewood and Paelyn Gilmore hit threes on consecutive possessions to push the lead to 19-11. Josie Stalzer added a three of her own, and after Gilmore hit a pair of free throws, Hagewood knocked down another three and followed it with a basket. Addie Brown capped the quarter with a three, and Republic went into halftime up 32-15 after a 21-6 second quarter.
The Lady Tigers kept the pressure on early in the third. Gilmore opened the half with a three, Brown hit another, and Stalzer scored inside to make it 40-17, putting Republic up 23. That was the biggest lead to that point for the Lady Tigers. Waynesville scored eight straight, but never managed to make the game closer.
Gilmore led all scorers with 18 points, hitting 5-of-13 from behind the arc. Cutbirth added 11 points on 5-of-9 shooting from the field. As a team, Republic went 10-of-27 from three-point range.
Riley Grosvenor led Waynesville with 15 points, and Regan Grosvenor added 12.
Score by Quarters
Waynesville 9-6-10-9 — 34
Republic 11-21-9-17 — 58
Republic Scoring
Paelyn Gilmore 18, Cora Cutbirth 11, Charlie Hagewood 8, Josie Stalzer 7, Addie Brown 6, Awbree Berning 6, Kinley Kilburn 2
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