Republic’s comeback kids did it again, and this one was for a state championship. The Lady Tigers scored the last five points of the game to beat Smithville 53-51 Saturday, capturing the Class 4 title at Mizzou Arena in Columbia.

Early on, it looked like Republic wouldn’t need to come from behind, as it had in the quarterfinals and semifinals. The Lady Tigers jumped on top 28-19 at halftime.

But Smithville turned the tables on Republic in the second half, slowly clawing their way back into contention. Kristen Stewart scored on a layup with about five minutes remaining, tying the game for the first time since the early-going, and igniting the Smithville crowd.

From there, Smithville built a 48-44 lead with 3:06 left, and had the ball with a chance to extend the lead to six. But Alice Heinzler, whose defense had helped key the Lady Tigers’ quarterfinal comeback over Helias, knocked the ball away from Kyli Nelson as the Warriors set up their offense. In the ensuing scramble for the ball, Sarah Kreul was fouled. She knocked down two free throws to cut the lead to two.

After Paige Imhoff made one of two free throws, Heinzler drove into the lane and made a spinning, contested jumper to cut the lead to one, 49-48. Imhoff hit two more free throws to give the Warriors a 51-48 lead with :58 left, but Smithville wouldn’t score again.

At the other end, Alice Heinzler missed a jumper, but Brooke Dutton grabbed the rebound and fed Sarah Kreul underneath the basket to make it 51-50 with :38 remaining.

Republic got another stop, and Alice Heinzler was fouled. She made two free throws to give Republic the lead again, 52-51. After two more missed shots by Smithville, Alexis Edwards blocked the ball out of bounds with :10 remaining, giving Smithville a chance to win it on their final possession.

But Heinzler made another outstanding defensive play, stealing the ball from Kelsey Motherwood. Heinzler made one more free throw with :04 remaining, and Smithville couldn’t get off a final shot before time expired.

Heinzler was Republic’s leading scorer with 16 points. Sarah Kreul had 12. Alexis Edwards scored 9 points, Alex Botkin had 8, Brooke Dutton had 6, and Kayla Bartelsmeyer scored 2.

For Republic, it’s the first state championship since 2004. It’s their 2nd state title under coach Kris Flood.

The Lady Tigers will return to Republic Sunday. They’re due to arrive at the high school at 1:30 p.m.

Republic beat Smithville 53-51 to win the Class 4 girls state championship. I’ll have lots of details later, but for now I’m working the next game between Hillcrest and Soldan. I’ll have more as soon as I can.

Follow every minute of the Class 4 Girls state championship game from Columbia! We’ll have live audio play-by-play, along with text updates, photos, stats and more. Follow along with me and Rodger Wheeler when the Lady Tigers meet Smithville at 6:40 Saturday.

Click the uStream player to listen to live audio coverage. It will go live and begin working around 6:20. You’ll get an occasional ad, but stick with it and the audio will come up again.

Below that, you’ll see a CoverItLive box, where Rodger and I will be dropping in photos, stats, commentary and more from the game.

The Republic Lady Tigers are in the Final 4! Tip-off for the semifinal game against Miller Career Academy is scheduled for Friday at 3:20 p.m. I’ll be courtside with Rodger Wheeler of the Republic Monitor to bring you live play-by-play, photos, and more.

Click the uStream player to listen to live audio coverage. It will go live and begin working around 3 o’clock. You’ll get an occasional ad, but stick with it and the audio will come up again.

Below that, you’ll see a CoverItLive box, where Rodger and I will be dropping in photos, stats, commentary and more from the game.

The Lady Tigers left Republic for the Final Four in Columbia today. They’ll spend the night in Columbia before playing in the state semifinals against Miller Career Academy at 3:20.

The team’s sendoff included a pep rally at the high school, and visits to each of the other school buildings, where younger students lined the halls and cheered them on. Here’s what it looked like.

As the Lady Tigers prepare for their trip to the Final Four, I’ve talked to the other three coaches in the Class 4 semifinals. The final installment is with Trevor Mosby of Smithville.

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Smithville (25-5)
Head coach: Trevor Mosby

Of the four teams remaining in the Class 4 state tournament, only Smithville is still trying to match its success of last season. The Warriors made it to the state finals in 2011, losing to undefeated St. Dominic 61-44. Coach Trevor Mosby says last year’s run set the stage for this year’s success.

“It just seemed like it opened a door for our program to know we could do it,” he says.

That last trip to the Final Four for the Warriors was 26 years earlier, when Mosby was a sophomore at Smithville himself. He rode the pep bus to Columbia as a student for those games, and now has led his alma mater to two straight appearances as head coach.

But with the Warriors graduating three senior starters, Mosby says he wasn’t anticipating a repeat performance. Smithville starts one senior, two juniors, and two sophomores.

“I thought, ‘We play a really tough schedule, we’ll be lucky to be .500. I’ve got girls with no varsity experience I’ve got to play,” Mosby says. “Then we started winning, winning, winning.”

The Warriors have racked up a 25-5 record to this point. Last year’s squad was 24-5 heading into the Final Four.

“A big part of that is last year’s success, and the girls just believing it’s possible,” says Mosby.

In contrast to the style of semifinalist Miller Career Academy, Smithville doesn’t worry about putting a lot of points on the board.

“I’d say we’re a defensive-minded team. Our scores aren’t always going to be real high,” says Mosby. “We don’t gamble a lot with our full-court pressing.

“Our goal is to hold you under 40 points. We feel like we can score 40, so if we hold you under 40, we can beat you.”

As for the pressure on his players, Mosby says he’s told them not to worry.

“I really do feel like the pressure is kind of off,” he says. “We’re going to go out and play as hard as we can.”

As the Lady Tigers prepare for their trip to the Final Four, I’ll be looking at each of the other three teams remaining in Class 4. Today it’s Westminster Christian Academy, from St. Louis.

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Westminster Christian Academy (26-3)
Coach: Steve Stipanovich

With only three losses, Westminster Christian Academy has the best won-loss record of any of the four teams still alive in Class 4. Second-year head coach Steve Stipanovich says he expected good things from his team coming into the season.

“We finished strong last year. We lost in the quarterfinals last year to (eventual state champion) St. Dominic’s,” he says. “We started the season thinking we would build on that.”

Westminster’s three losses were against Kirkwood and Troy — both larger schools — and Class 3 Principia, which Stipanovich says was the best of the bunch.

“I like to think we play some good teams,” Stipanovich says. “If you’re a team that you feel can get to the Final Four and win a championship, you’re going to prepare for that by scheduling stronger competition. It’s all about the playoffs.”

To succeed in the playoffs, Stipanovich says it all goes back to solid defense.

“I think any coach will tell you the defense is where your success lies. You can play defense every night,” he says. “Rebounding is also another one we try to hammer into the girls heads. Rebounding and defense is what we say we focus on more than our offense.”

Man-to-man is the staple of Westminster’s defense, with an occasional half-court zone trap. “Our focus is on half-court defense. We don’t do much full-court pressure,” says Stipanovich.

The Wildcats are led by 6’3″ junior center Sadie Stipanovich, averaging nearly 16 points and nine rebounds per game. Senior guard Courtney Powell averages about 13 points for Westminster.

This is the Wildcats’ first-ever trip to the Final Four in Columbia. Stipanovich says last season’s experience as a quarterfinalist has helped prepare his girls for this year’s playoff run.

“I told the girls before we played Kirksville (in this year’s quarterfinals), I really feel like we’re in the state tournament now because we’re playing for something.”