The Mansfield Sr Lady Tigers won yet another big one on Tuesday, January 26th by polishing off the Lavaca Lady Golden Arrows. The victory pushes the Lady Tigers closer and closer to legendary status giving them the program’s best record in over the past six years. Even though the accomplishment looks great on paper, Mansfield is still determined to do even better on the court.
The Lady Tigers welcomed back their full team for the first time in weeks. With the return of Lita Hecox, Skylynn Harris, Serenity Brunson, and Kiara Thomas, Mansfield was fully loaded and Lavaca was in trouble. Mansfield went after the Golden Arrows quickly plowing their way to a ten-point 14-4 lead at the end of the first quarter. The Lady Tigers’ defense was so dominant that Lavaca’s only score in the first quarter was when Mansfield fouled on a made three-point shot giving the Lady Golden Arrows a tacked-on free throw. The near-perfect defensive pressure continued for the Lady Tigers, but their offense wasn’t on par quite yet. That being said, Mansfield still walked into halftime with a commanding 26-8 lead.
After halftime, neither team seemed to catch fire offensively. The Lady Tigers hung another 10 points in the third quarter to extend their lead to 36-13 while Lavaca knocked out 5 points of their own. Mansfield ran into a foul wall late in the third quarter giving Lavaca a head of steam going into the final quarter of the game. That was when Coach Joshua Bryan cleared the bench. In the final three minutes of the game, the Lady Tigers were able to get every player off the bench and on the court to give the whole team a proper “Welcome Home” gift. The gift that keeps on giving though is their season sweep against Lavaca as the Lady Tigers went on to win 46-21.
Although the offense didn’t reach their 50 points per game average against Lavaca, they still put up some pretty good numbers. Season leading scorer Makayla Strutton scored 16 points while her basketball twin, Danielle Lillie, landed 14 points against Lavaca. The returning Skylynn Harris gave the Lady Tigers their sweet soft shots with 6 points. Chloe Creekmore continued to move forward in her basketball skills by hanging 5 points against the Lady Golden Arrows. And Brooke Wright and Seven Sanderson dipped in for a bucket each pairing for a combined 4 points in the game while Natalie Allison rounded out the scoring for Mansfield with 1 point in the game. Although Hecox, Thomas, Brunson, and Sara Fisher didn’t score in the game, their defensive and set-up contributions were key in the Lady Tigers’ victory.
The Mansfield Sr Lady Tigers have their eye on the prize. The prize isn’t a conference title, regionals title, or state title. The prize is the next game and that is the mentality they aim to maintain. With teams like Mountainburg, Magazine, Dover, and JC Westside on the schedule, the Lady Tigers can’t afford to look past anyone. Mansfield will next host the scrappy Magazine Lady Rattlers at The Jungle on Tuesday, February. 2nd
