CARTHAGE, Mo. — Republic built an early lead and staved off Carthage in the middle quarters before pulling away to a 76-44 Central Ozark Conference road win on Thursday.
Republic (13-6, 4-0 COC) started the game on a 10-2 run before finishing the opening quarter with a double-digit advantage. Carthage (11-8, 1-3 COC) trailed by as much as 20 in the first half before a late second-quarter surge cut the deficit to 13 by the intermission. Carthage cut the lead to single digits several times in the third quarter before Republic put the game out of reach early in the fourth.
“We just didn’t shoot the ball well,” Carthage coach Scott Moore said. “We missed a bunch of bunnies around the basket and missed a lot of free throws when we had the advantage there. I think, overall, our shooting put us in a hole in the first quarter, resurfaced again in the fourth quarter, and that was really the difference. We were getting buckets in the third quarter, but our defense let us down. It was an eight-point ballgame right there in the third, but we just couldn’t muster baskets in the fourth quarter.”
Republic wasted little time getting out to a lead over Carthage, with Kaemyn Bekemeier and Savana Powell-Goodman knocking down back-to-back 3-pointers to start the contest with a 6-0 lead.
From there, Republic went to work attacking the basket to stretch out the advantage. Bekemeier added three more baskets from inside the perimeter, with Powell-Goodman and Jazzy Kirby also adding baskets on the drive to give Republic a 20-8 lead after one quarter of play.
“They have a really good player and some good role players,” Moore said. “Their role players had good nights tonight, and that’s going to be a problem. Every kid can spread the floor. Republic can shoot the 3. They were just hot to start, and we were not.”
Carthage was limited to one field goal in the opening quarter and added six makes at the free-throw line.
“We couldn’t get open looks from the outside,” Moore said of his team’s offensive output in the opening quarter. “We had a height advantage inside and we felt we could attack the paint, which is why we had so many free throws. We just have to turn those into and-ones and make all of our free throws.”
Republic started the second period with a 3-ball from Powell-Goodman before Bekemeier knocked down a baseline pull-up jumper and a jumper in the lane off the glass to push the lead out to 27-8 at the 4:08 mark. Kirby was good from mid-range moments later to give Republic its largest lead of the first half, 31-11.
Carthage responded with its first run of the game, scoring 10 unanswered points to bring the lead back to 10 with a minute to play in the first half at 31-21. Hailey Fullerton fueled the run with seven points in the quarter.
“Some of the good work we did in the first quarter got them into foul trouble by the second quarter,” Moore said. “That allowed us to make a run at the lead.”
Republic, in what looked like a recurring theme for the remainder of the game, answered Carthage’s momentum swing with a bucket — a 3-pointer from Kirby — to give RHS a 34-21 lead at halftime.
Republic scored the first basket of the second half before Carthage’s Kianna Yates sank a 3-ball from the top of the key, with Fullerton following with an offensive rebound for a putback bucket to make the score 36-26 with 6:50 on the clock.
Fullerton sank a 3-pointer moments later, which was followed by a Yates score inside to cut the lead to single digits for the first time in the second half, 41-32, at the 5:15 mark.
Again, Republic answered, as Bekemeier found room inside for a basket to push the lead back to 10.
Carthage cut the lead to single digits once more after a 3-pointer from Yates and a turnaround score inside from Fullerton with less than three minutes left in the third period before Republic answered with seven straight points to extend the lead back to a double-digit margin, taking a 54-42 cushion into the final quarter of play.
“Republic has a very mature team that handled our runs,” Moore said. “They have four seniors and a really good sophomore. That is a lot of experience. Our experience allowed us to make the runs, but their maturity allowed them to stave us off long enough to get hot again in the fourth quarter when we ran out of steam.”
Republic started the final eight minutes of action on a 14-0 surge to end any comeback attempt by Carthage.
SCORING LEADERS
Bekemeier led Republic with a game-high 26 points, while Powell-Goodman finished with 18. Kirby added 11.
Fullerton led Carthage with 20 points, while Yates finished with 12. Brinna Ream added seven.
UP NEXT
Carthage hosts Neosho for a Super Two night on Tuesday.
