By Denise Tucker (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
What started out as a track meet, ended in a knock-down, drag-out fight to the finish as the second-seeded Republic Lady Tigers held on for a 55-48 White Division semifinal win over the No. 3 Kickapoo Lady Chiefs on Thursday evening at Drury’s O’Reilly Family Event Center.
“That’s one of those games that’s become like a rivalry game,” Republic coach Kris Flood said of the Lady Tigers’ matchup with Kickapoo. “It just happened to happen here (against) a good team, scrappy. We kind of fought through some stuff ourselves and had a good second half.”
Both teams seemingly traded buckets throughout the first quarter before Misora Nambara found Hope Schatz along the baseline, where Schatz knocked down a 3-pointer to give the Lady Tigers an 18-16 lead.
“We’ve had an extremely rough schedule at the beginning, and I think it showed a little bit in this particular game,” Flood said. “We hit some key baskets and finally got some stops. That first half, it looked like it was going to end up in the 80s. Neither (team) could really stop the other. We finally got some stops and were able to convert on the other end.”
Missouri State Lady Bears signee, Kaemyn Bekemeier, scored seven first-quarter points in the first quarter and added seven more early in the second to give Republic a 25-20 advantage almost midway through the quarter. But the Lady Chiefs continued to fight back on two free throws from Mikayla Smith and a spin move in the lane by Kya Johnson to pull within two points (35-33) at halftime.
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“I think just the intensity of coming out and being ready and knowing that you know they’re going to want it,” said Bekemeier, who scored a game-high 25 points. “You know there is that pressure of having the higher seed, but I think us having pressure just makes us better. It makes us fight a little bit more and know that there is a target on our backs. But we were able to execute.”
Republic, which is ranked No. 6 in Class 6, was able to extend its lead early in the third quarter (40-33) on a coast-to-coast layup by Alaina Norman and a 3-pointer from the wing by Lauren Chastain.
Kickapoo answered on an “and-one” by Mikayla Pilley to pull back within four (40-36). But a Bekemeier runner in the lane and a 3-pointer from the wing gave Republic a 45-36 advantage. About three minutes later, Bekemeier hit a leaning 3 from the wing just seconds before the buzzer to give the Lady Tigers their biggest lead of the night (48-38).
And Republic, which improved to 10-1, was able to handle the Lady Chiefs’ zone defense, which has caused problems for other teams.
“Their zone is good,” Bekemeier said. “Honestly, any shots that we could get was what we wanted and what we needed at the end of the day; (to score) as fast as we can and as many points as we could get on them and then try and play good defense on the other end.”
Nambara, Republic’s main ballhandler, saw limited action because of foul trouble, picking up her third foul early in the third quarter and her fourth foul early in the final quarter. But Flood wasn’t worried.
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“We’ve been fortunate,” Flood said. “We had an injury early in the Kickapoo tournament, and we’ve had some kids that have come in and helped with minutes. I think that helped, in particular with this game, as far as Nambara fighting with the fouls and (she) didn’t get a ton of minutes. But these kids will fight through it.”
The Lady Chiefs chipped away at Republic’s lead early in the fourth quarter on a basket by Johnson and a free throw from Pilley to pull within seven. And even though the Lady Tigers didn’t score in the fourth until two free throws from Chastain with 2:54 left, they were able to hold off Kickapoo to advance to Friday’s championship game.
“As we got toward the end of the game, we had some turnovers, unforced type of turnovers,” Flood said. “And we’ve been shooting free throws well, but we had some misses, and we were just fortunate enough we were in a spot that it was a three- or four-possession game.
“We had good contributions. I thought everybody played hard and played well, and hopefully, it’s going to make us better as we move forward. Of course, it’s always a privilege to get to play in the finals of the Pink and White Classic, a very tough tournament. So, we’re just looking forward to our opportunity tomorrow.”
Kickapoo coach Jim Pendergrass was proud of how his state-ranked Lady Chiefs (seventh in Class 6) fought back against Republic.
“They’re good, a very good basketball team, and they’re a veteran team,” Pendergrass said. “Give them a lot of credit tonight. They make it very hard on people. In the fourth quarter, we had five straight possessions where we were able to get stops, but we turned the basketball over. That kind of determines the game sometimes. And those possessions in close games are really critical. But I’m really proud of our kids and the way we battled. I’ve been seeing improvement from them all year, and tonight, this game made us better.”
Republic will take on No. 1 seed Grain Valley for the White Division Championship at 6 p.m., Friday, while Kickapoo faces Cabot, Ark., for third place 2:30 p.m. Both games are at Drury’s O’Reilly Family Event Center.
#2 REPUBLIC 55, #3 KICKAPOO 48
Pink and White Lady Classic
White Division semifinal
At O’Reilly Family Event Center
KICKAPOO 16-17-5-10—48
REPUBLIC 18-17-13-7—55
KICKAPOO (9-4) – Josie Salazar 5, Mikayla Pilley 10, Kya Johnson 6, Delainey Wylie 10, Miya Nieto 2, Ariana Mosley 8, Mikayla Smith 6, Allison Scott 1.
REPUBLIC (10-1) – Misora Nambara 5, Lauren Chastain 8, Molly Blades 6, Alaina Norman 4, Kaeymyn Bekemeier 25, Molly Mason 4, Hope Schatz 3.
