As with any tournament, the Today’s Bank/Bill Frye Invitational will end with a champion being crowned. The Mansfield Lady Tigers know a thing or two about how to make it to tournament championship games, but every tournament has its own little traps for each team. With a mauling of their Round1 opponents, Mansfield was slated to play a Mulberry team in Round2 of the Today’s Bank/Bill Frye Invitational. The Lady Tigers knew Mulberry had the capability to catch them off guard if they mulled around so Mansfield stomped on the gas and never let off en route to a 56-21 victory.
Mansfield started off smoothly with a Kynslee Ward layup but the Lady Yellow Jackets matched the Lady Tigers with a sweet layup of their own to tie things up 2-2. Noticing that Mulberry was going to put up a fight, the Lady Tigers put the pedal to the metal on both offense and defense. Alyson Edwards ties up with a Lady Yellow Jacket to give Mansfield the ball. Kynslee Ward then stormed down the court for another layup. Ward quickly forced a turnover giving Natalie Allison an easy shot plus one after being fouled. Alyson Edwards was fouled attempting to put up a board bucket but missed both of her free throws. Knowing nothing is free, Edwards got her own free throw rebound and put the ball through the net to earn her two points. Alyson Edwards followed up that show of force with a defensive steal and assist to Kaylee Ward for a quick score. To extend the Lady Tigers lead, Harlie Fuller was left open and then drained a three-point shot. With Mansfield on a roll, Mulberry called a time-out with 1:21 left in the quarter. The slight break was just enough for Kynslee Ward to catch enough of a breath to make a big steal and go unopposed for a layup to end the first quarter with a 17-6 lead.
As the old adage goes “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. So the Lady Tigers continued to light up the scoreboard with Natalie Allison starting off the second quarter with a quick layup. Kaylee Ward followed Allison’s score up with a rebound and putback to keep the lights burning bright. Mulberry hit a three-point shot on the Lady Tigers then tried to double down with another shot. But Kaylee Ward wouldn’t have that in her zone as she stuffed the shot with authority. Alyson Edwards would again make her presence known away from the boards with a precise three-point swish. With the offense playing red hot, Seven Sanderson pulled down back-to-back defensive rebounds to prove that the Lady Tigers aren’t a one-trick pony. Solo scoring is one thing, but selfless assists are what make a team championship material. One notable assist in the second quarter was when Skylynn Harris stripped the ball and swooped it to Kynslee Ward who made an impeccable reverse layup. The assists kept coming with Alyson Edwards and Kynslee Ward being the benefactors of each one. Then Mulberry made a mistake and let Kaylee Ward get hot. Ward closed out the half with an assist layup from Skylynn Harris, a putback board bucket, then topped it off with a three-pointer. The score was lopsided going into halftime with Mansfield up on Mulberry 38-11.
The Lady Tigers picked up where they left off after halftime by scoring…..a lot. The Lady Tigers went on an 8-3 run with layup scores by Alyson Edwards, Natalie Allison, Kynslee Ward, and Kaylee Ward which forced Mulberry to call a timeout. With a 46-14 lead, the Lady Tigers began rotating in fresh feet. Those fresh feet gave the Lady Tigers fans happy feet when Harlie Fuller dipped and dove her way through the Lady Yellow Jackets defense for a quick lay-in score. Mansfield’s bench consists of defensive assassins and it didn’t take long for them to start shutting down Mulberry. With such an aggressive defense on the court, Mulberry tried to keep their shots outside the perimeter. Unfortunately for the Lady Yellow Jackets, Skylynn Harris was right there to bat their shots down. Brooklyn Adams, Raine Hecox, and Trinity Triska glued themselves to anyone in black helping the Lady Tigers hold Mulberry to just 8 total third-quarter points. The early-quarter scoring and late-quarter defense sent Mansfield into the fourth quarter with a 50-19 lead.
With Mansfield in full control of the game, Head Coach Ethan Bowman kept his master defenders on the court to close out the game. The Lady Tigers stuck to their game by continuing to force turnovers, making steals, and racking up rebounds. Mansfield even sprinkled in some late scoring with Raine Hecox swishing a three-pointer, Skylynn Harris dropping in a board bucket, and Kaylie Lowery hitting a nothing-but-net free throw. The total team performance by the Lady Tigers was too much for Mulberry as Mansfield breezed past the Lady Yellow Jackets 56-21. The victory punched Mansfield’s ticket to the Today’s Bank/Bill Frye Invitational championship game where they’ll face the Paris Lady Eagles for the gold. It’s almost like the championship matchup was meant to be as the teams had to cancel their game earlier in the season due to inclement weather. Both the Lady Tigers and Lady Eagles know that they’ll be facing possibly their toughest test of the season and are eager for what is sure to be a thrilling championship game.
