By Pat Dailey (For OzarkSportsZone.com)
WILLARD — Republic has been a consistent winner the past three seasons, averaging 20 wins a year. But the Lady Tigers didn’t add a trophy to their trophy case during that span.
Seniors Kaemyn Bekemeier and Hope Schatz finally celebrated the first regular-season tournament championship of their Republic careers Saturday, as the Lady Tigers beat Blue Springs 44-42 in the Willard Classic final.
“I’d never won some true hardware since I’ve been in high school,” Bekemeier said. “It’s good to have that our senior year. It’s something we’ve been working toward. We’ve put in the work individually and as a group. It feels good to finally have it pay off.”
“It’s been a little bit since we celebrated a first-place trophy in a tournament,” coach Kris Flood said.
Bekemeier and Schatz were part of a tournament championship team as eighth-graders but couldn’t recall the tourney they won.
“That was too long ago,” Bekemeier said.
Republic won’t soon forget its rally from a 21-9 deficit to Blue Springs.
The Lady Tigers felt they couldn’t have asked for much better looks than they were getting from 3-point land in the early going. But they repeatedly were off target while falling behind.
“This week, we’ve not had good luck on the perimeter,” Flood said.
“They weren’t falling,” Bekemeier said. “That’s something we’ve gone through and we’ve had to adjust to where we’ve been getting our shots. We’ve have to do different things.”
Republic adjusted by trying to find gaps in Blue Springs’ defense.
“That was hard to do because they were in a really good zone, an aggressive zone. They were good defenders,” Bekemeier said. “We finally got some shots going.”
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The Lady Tigers put up 26 points in the second half. They finally enjoyed some success behind the arc, making a trio of 3-pointers in the third quarter, as Bekemeier, Schatz and Lauren Chastain each had a trey.
Bekemeier added another 3-pointer while scoring nine of her game-high 20 points in the fourth quarter.
“We never give up. We always fight together and fight hard,” Schatz said. “We had adversity we had to come back from tonight. I love this team. Every moment I get with them is so rewarding.”
“We stayed in the game and gave ourselves a shot at the end to pull one out,” Flood said.
Republic completed its comeback with an assist from Blue Springs.
With the teams tied at 42-all, the Lady Tigers worked the clock to set up a final shot. As Bekemeier began to drive toward the paint, Blue Springs coach Mark Spigarelli shouted for his players to foul her. They did, while Bekemeier was still 12-15 feet from the hoop. With Republic in the bonus, she went to the free-throw line with :4.2 remaining.
Bekemeier swished both her first free throw and her second freebie for the winning points.
Flood assumed Spigarelli did not think the Lady Tigers were in the bonus. At the time of the foul on Bekemeier, Blue Springs had committed seven fouls and Republic five.
“There may have been some miscommunication with the foul situation,” Flood said. “I’m not sure he wanted to do that in that situation. It paid off for us. We got a break there and finished it off. We’ll take it.”
“I was hearing ‘Foul’ and I was hearing ‘Take it to the hole,’” Bekemeier said. “I knew I had to go. Good thing it worked out how it did.”
As Republic’s only seniors, Bekemeier and Schatz provided the Lady Tigers different forms of leadership. Bekemeier is even-keel while Schatz is fiery and vocal.
“I’m able to communicate by words and she’s able to put those words into action,” Schatz said. “I think we complement (each other).”
“She’s always trying to fire us up. If she’s not, I’m trying to fire her up to get us going,” Bekemeier said. “We’ve been best friends forever. Growing up, we’ve always been around each other. Stepping into our senior year, we knew we wanted this to be one to remember and one for the books of the program. We’ve tried to lead with positivity and action.”
