The Mansfield Sr Lady Tigers ended their season Monday with a loss to Elkins in the first round of the 3A-1 District Tournament. It was an up and down season for the Lady Tigers. They faced the downs of extremely tough opponents, suffered injuries, and the ball just rolled the wrong way at times. With that being said, the Lady Tigers had one thing this season that many other teams didn’t. They had the grit to never give up. They only had two seniors on the team, but those two seniors provided strong leadership. They had the heart to face overwhelming odds. But possibly the most exciting key the Lady Tigers had was youth. This was a young team on the court cutting their teeth against senior-heavy teams all season. As cliche as it may sound, next year will be better.
Lady Tigers Coach Joshua Bryan said “Our Lady Tigers broke many barriers that had plagued the team in the past. We had many obstacles that presented themselves in many ways before the season started and throughout the season. Our seniors leaving us this year have started a trend that will continue to develop our Lady T
The Sr Tigers also ended their season Monday night losing to Lincoln in the District Tournament. This season was an excitement-packed season for players, coaches, and fans alike. The Sr Tigers were one of the most aggressive and high energy teams on the court all season. A young team with only two seniors to lead the way, the Tigers proved night after night that they wouldn’t be pushed around by anyone. No matter the score or record, the Tigers had the stands roaring every game fed by one thing…..110% effort. That pure unadulterated effort showed everyone that the players were proud to be Mansfield Tigers and that pride bled into the stands more and more as each game went by.
Sr Tigers Coach Keith Dake said “This season was one of the highest of highs; and lowest of lows. It’s never easy when you only have two seniors on the roster. A seniors experience and leadership on the floor is something that is of immeasurable importance to a team. Luckily, the two we had were committed to helping rebuild the program and make us competitive once again. We competed against several of the conferences top opponents throughout the season. We will be returning 4 starters along with 3 of our top 4 guys that came off the bench for us this season. Not to mention moving up 6 freshmen who recently competed for a district championship. We will be preparing for the upcoming season by spending a large amount of time in the offseason building our strength and condition and becoming better overall athletes. We’ll also be attending several local team camps including the UofA to faceoff against some of the states top competition. The future for the Mansfield Tigers is looking very bright. We will continue to improve and work hard to ensure we can battle for one of the top seeds in next years conference and hopefully, make a deep run into the postseason for the first time in a very long time.”
