REPUBLIC, Mo. — A short-handed Carl Junction girls basketball team suffered a 55-43 setback to Republic on Thursday night in a Central Ozark Conference clash between state-ranked teams at Republic High School.
The Bulldogs, who fell to 9-4 overall and 1-1 in the COC, played without Jessa Hylton. A junior guard, Hylton scored 22 points two nights ago against Carthage.
Carl Junction trailed by three at halftime before Republic outscored the visitors 16-6 in the game-changing third period.
Sophomore guard Destiny Buerge scored a game-high 28 points for the Bulldogs, who are ranked sixth in Class 5. Buerge, who made 10 field goals and 7-of-11 free throws, scored 17 points in the second half.
Freshman Kylie Scott added 10 points for the Bulldogs and sophomore Hali Shorter scored five points to round out CJ’s scoring.
Sophomore guard Kaemyn Bekemeier led Republic (9-4, 2-0 COC) with 22 points. Bekemeier made four field goals and 12-of-13 free throws.
The Tigers, who are ranked ninth in Class 6, received 10 points from Kaitlyn Ragsdale.
Republic led 12-9 at the end of the first quarter. The Bulldogs briefly took the lead early in the second quarter after hoops from Scott and Buerge, but Bekemeier scored six straight for the hosts.
Buerge connected on 3-of-4 free throws late in the first half, cutting Carl Junction’s deficit to 24-21 at the break.
Pushing the pace and taking advantage of several Carl Junction turnovers, Republic began the second half on an 11-2 run to take a 35-23 advantage.
The Tigers held a comfortable 40-27 lead by the end of the third period.
After a 3-pointer by Ragsdale, Republic went up 53-35 with three minutes remaining.
Carl Junction trimmed its deficit to 10 with a minute to play after an 8-0 surge, but it was too little, too late.
Carl Junction is scheduled to host Pittsburg next Thursday.
