Ten different Republic players scored as the Lady Tigers opened their playoff journey with a blowout win over Willard, 78-41 at Joplin Monday night. Brooke Stanfield led Republic with 19 points to help Republic win its 24th game of the season.
The victory puts Republic into the district championship game Thursday. The top-seeded Lady Tigers will play #2 Nixa or #3 Neosho.
Monday night, Republic jumped all over Willard early and never looked back. It was 25-8 at the end of the first quarter and 47-25 by halftime. Willard didn’t have an answer for Stanfield, and the Lady Tigers threw it inside to her repeatedly. She had nine points in the first quarter.
At the other end of the floor, Stanfield and Argo teamed up to defend Joran Stout-Mitchell, the 5’9″ sophomore who scored more than 22 points in the teams’ first meeting. Argo came up with several steals in the first half.
“We really worked on that in practice yesterday, as far as what we needed to do with Brylee, and also having other kids help Brylee so she wasn’t as isolated as she was the first time ,” Flood says. “Then I thought the guards may have put a little more pressure on them out on the perimeter to make that pass a tough pass to get in there.”
Taylor Fergen and Jade Sawyer scored 11 points for Republic. Argo and Alexis Ladwig each had eight. Jordan Kabetske scored six. Allyson Barrett added five. Madison Beckham scored three. Madi Appleberry and Logan Flood each had two.
Republic improves to 24-1. Tipoff of the district championship game Thursday is scheduled for 6 pm.