After a double-overtime loss to Kickapoo, coach Kris Flood challenged his Lady Tigers to bounce back and show what they’re made of. They did just that in the third place game of the Pink & White Tournament, walloping Elgin (Okla.) 58-40 Wednesday afternoon. They did it by speeding up the tempo with their full-court pressure and neutralizing Elgin’s size advantage inside.
“Before the game, we said we’re going to come out and we’re going to press right off the bat,” says Flood. “I thought the kids did a tremendous job of responding against a pretty good team. We definitely had some moments there where we had some really good runs.
Brooke Stanfield led the Lady Tigers with 17 points, and she also added several blocked shots on the defensive end of the floor.
“I thought Brooke was definitely a factor today. She knows she didn’t play very well last night, and she stepped up and responded,” says Flood. “I thought Mansker played pretty well, stepped up and hit a couple of big threes.”
The Lady Tigers led 15-13 after one quarter, and pushed their lead to 30-21 at halftime. By the end of the third quarter, Republic led 44-28. Elgin made a small run to keep things interesting early in the fourth quarter, but never seriously threatened.
Flood says it was good to see his players come out loose and enjoy themselves. “Our main thing right now is we’ve got to relax a little bit and just play and try to go out there and have a little fun,” he says.
Republic improves to 8-2. They don’t play again until January 9th, when they travel to Blue Springs. They’ll follow that up with another game in the Kansas City area on Saturday against Lee’s Summit West.