A 76.9% winning percentage isn’t anything to shake your finger at, but 100% is much better. The Mansfield Lady Tigers were 10-3 overall going into their game against Booneville on Monday, January 12th. However, with the Lady Bearcats being a conference foe, it was Mansfield’s 4-0 conference record that needed to remain intact. Of course, the Lady Tigers wanted to add another conference win, but with Charleston leading the 3A-1 with a 13-1 overall record and a 5-0 conference record, that want to win was more so a need. Booneville may have had the worst record between the two programs, but this game took the full four quarters of nail-biting excitement for the Lady Tigers to pull away with the win.
Kaylee Ward won the opening jump ball to give Mansfield the first shot at putting up points. Unfortunately, the Lady Tigers turned over the ball and Booneville capitalized with a three-point shot. Bailey Quick tied the game up quickly by downing a three dish for the Lady Tigers on their next possession. A back court violation by Booneville gave Mansfield the ball back again. The game was starting off wild with wild shots, wild turnovers, and wild passes. All of the wildness settled down though as the Lady Tigers and Booneville both put up two more points to tie the game at 5-5. Bailey Quick took an inbound pass and put it up to give Mansfield the lead, but Booneville quickly tied it up again. Now sitting at 7-7, both the Lady Tigers and Booneville seemed to be mirroring each other. Bailey London sank a three-point shot, but Booneville answered with a three of their own. Luckily for Mansfield, Addison Howard cleaned things up and threw down a buzzer beating three to end the opening quarter with the Lady Tigers leading Booneville, 14-10.
The opening quarter heated up the hardwood floors for both teams, but Mansfield looked to pull ahead in the second quarter. Booneville started the quarter with the ball but turned it over, allowing Mansfield to switch ends of the court. Both teams remained physical and maybe a little sloppy at times, seeming to be more chained to the floor rather than the basket. Abby Smith broke open the scoreboard chains with a big three to move the Lady Tigers up by seven points. Danielle Lowery pinned a Booneville player in the backcourt to force a turnover, but the Lady Tigers couldn’t secure any points from the possession change. Booneville drained a three-pointer soon after to close the gap to a 17-13 score with 4:03 left in the half. Bailey Quick showed the Lady Bearcats that she can burn nets, too, with another Lady Tiger three-pointer, but Booneville matched it with one of their own.
Danielle Lowery gave Mansfield the break they were waiting for with a blocked pass, but again, the Lady Tigers couldn’t capitalize. With 1:44 left in the first half, neither team could seem to pull away as the score sat at 20-16 with 1:40 on the clock. Kaylee Ward dished a sweet assist to Lowery, who pushed up a board bucket to extend the Lady Tigers’ lead. But again, Booneville responded with a score of their own to keep the Lady Tigers at bay. Ward was able to pull off another assist, this time to Bailey London, who put in an uncontested layup at the buzzer to send Mansfield into halftime with a narrow 24-18 lead.
Mansfield started the second half with the ball, and Addison Howard quickly hit a three-pointer from downtown. Danielle Lowery forced a turnover, and Abby Smith snatched the ball, but Mansfield was unable to score on the opportunity. Opportunities only come so often, and Booneville made Mansfield pay by hitting five consecutive points against the Lady Tigers to close the score down to four points again. Mansfield hit a three though to bump up the scoreboard to 30-23 with 4:06 remaining in the third quarter.
Kaylee Ward then switched from assisting to scoring with a board bucket. Even though the Lady Bearcats responded, Ward finally got the ball smoking with another score off the board. Now with a nine-point lead, the Lady Tigers were finally able to settle down and play their kind of game. Addison Howard plowed her way in to score, putting Mansfield up 36-25 with less than a minute left in the quarter. With the clock ticking down, Kaylee Ward rolled in a smooth basket at the buzzer to send Mansfield into the final quarter ahead of Booneville, 39-25.
The fourth quarter started off the way the third ended, with a Kaylee Ward bucket. Addison Howard seconded Ward’s shot with a net of her own before Danielle Lowery sank a three-pointer. The Lady Tigers were on fire, and Booneville didn’t have a hose to put it out. The score quickly got to a 48-27 Mansfield lead before the Lady Bearcats called a timeout. The timeout cooled down Mansfield’s defense enough for Booneville to hit a three-pointer, but Kaylee Ward downed a two-point shot to keep Mansfield’s fire burning.
Ward then tattooed her name on the scoreboard with a three-pointer. Not to be outdone, Addison Howard hit a three of her own. But Mansfield didn’t stop there. Danielle Lowery put up a rebound for another gain and got fouled in the process to earn a plus one. With the scoreboard burning up with a 59-30 tally, the Lady Tigers merely looked up and said burn baby burn and kept going. With 1:50 left in the game, Mansfield ushered in subs to close out the game. Mansfield subs are a sub above, though, and held Booneville to just one point to seal up the victory with a 59-31 final.
While the victory kept Mansfield’s perfect 3A-1 record intact, the Lady Tigers will have to clean things up a little before they face the conference leading Charleston Lady Tigers on Wednesday, January 14th. This game was originally slated to be played on December 12th, but the football State Playoffs interfered and caused the game to be rescheduled. Both teams have waited anxiously to face off and now this Tiger tussle can finally happen. Mansfield will host Charleston this Wednesday at 5:00pm so show up early and get ready for a wild game.
