Homecoming tends to shuffle priorities and schedules every which way. The Mansfield Lady Tigers saw teammates dressed up to the max, looking as beautiful as possible, and watched as their senior team leader, Trinity Triska, was crowned the 2025 Mansfield Basketball Queen. Once the pageantry was over, the Lady Tigers had the rare experience of watching the Tigers play before them. With all of the distractions going on, it could have been easy for the Lady Tigers to go out on the court and merely go through the motions of the game. But this is Mansfield Lady Tiger basketball. There is no such thing as going through the motions. The Lady Tigers proved that as they wiped off the homecoming makeup and replaced it with their war faces en route to a 43-27 homecoming victory over the Booneville Lady Bearcats.

Mansfield’s Kaylee Ward won the jump ball tip, but it was Booneville who struck first by playing some good ol’ powerball at the boards. Down 2-0, right off the bat isn’t the way a team wants to start their night, so Mansfield regrouped and went to work. Kaylee Ward drew a foul and succeeded in sinking both of her free throws to tie the game at two all. Ward then found herself wide at the top and swished a three-pointer to give Mansfield the lead. Booneville bounced back with a layup to set the score at a 7-4 Mansfield lead. But there was a catch, the battle to victory was already looking to be one of who had the best defense. A 7-4 score is one that fans would expect in the first two minutes of the game, but that was the score with 2:44 left in the first quarter. Booneville was able to drop in a pair of free throws to close within a single point of tying the game thus putting Mansfield on the spot. With under a minute left, Kaylee Ward stepped up to the plate by taking foul shots and a layup for four points closing the first quarter with a narrow 11-7 Lady Tiger lead.

Mansfield may have had the lead going into the second quarter, but the first quarter’s mental errors would have to be tended to. Miley Clopton started the Lady Tigers off with a passing grade as she hit a long-range three-pointer to bump the Lady Tigers lead to 14-7. Clopton again put up the points with a short shot as the Lady Tigers were beginning to cook. Kaylee Ward kept the streak going with a tornado-twisting jump shot forcing Booneville to call a timeout at the 5:08 mark with Mansfield leading 18-7. The Lady Bearcats finally made their first set of points in the second quarter after the timeout, but a Trinity Triska steal led to another Miley Clopton score. Mansfield’s court cooking was turning into a Booneville buffet as the Lady Tigers again made their way to the net, this time with an Adaline Godwin three-pointer. Godwin followed that big score with a defensive steal that allowed Kaylee Ward to drain a three-pointer of her own. That shot worked so well that Ward doubled down and did it again sinking another three-pointer. Booneville was able to gather up a couple of shots, but the Lady Tigers were in firm control as the teams entered and walked off the court with Mansfield leading Booneville with a halftime score of 29-15.

The second half began with a bang for the Lady Tigers as Miley Clopton was fouled giving Mansfield the first points of the final half. The foul itself was the only bang though as Clopton went 0-2 at the line. Missed shots happen to every player though and Clopton moved on knowing she’d have plenty more shots to go. As the defensive struggle between the two teams continued, Shelbie Fuller stepped up to drop in the first score of the third quarter by either team. Even though it took over a minute and a half for either team to score, Fuller’s basket started a scoring run by the Lady Tigers and Booneville. The Lady Bearcats threatened a comeback as Booneville dropped in back-to-back layups gaining momentum in the game. Not one Lady Tiger could stop the momentum rush by Booneville and the Lady Tigers knew that. So, Mansfield opted for a divide-and-conquer method as Adeline Godwin made a look-away assist to Trinity Triska for an unopposed layup. Abby Smith used her solid defensive skills to give the Lady Tigers points too when she battled to snag a rebound and took the ball to the other end of the court for a flawless layup of her own. The big push by Mansfield forced Booneville to call a timeout with the Lady Tigers leading 35-19 at the 2:34 mark. Although there was still ample time to score points in the quarter, both teams stuck to their defensive game plan as a three-pointer from Miley Clopton and a Lady Bearcat three-pointer were the only baskets made before the third quarter buzzer sounded with Mansfield ahead of Booneville with a 38-22 score.

Even though their offense was sputtering, the Lady Tigers continued to tap into their defensive prowess to keep Booneville at bay. Steals, rebounds and tips became Mansfield’s master motivator until Shelbie Fuller sank a pair of free throws to give the Lady Tigers their first fourth-quarter points. Booneville came right back at the Lady Tigers with a layup to match Mansfield’s points, but Trinity Triska unloaded a deep three-pointer to set the Lady Bearcats back again. Booneville’s dip and dive offense was starting to become effective as the Lady Bearcats caught Mansfield off guard to score points and cause Mansfield to foul. Holding a comfortable 43-27 lead kept the Lady Tigers from getting too excited about Booneville’s new tactic though as Mansfield kept leaning on their defensive skills. The Lady Bearcats on the other hand were getting frustrated and started getting fouls of their own. Fortunately, Mansfield failed to connect with their free throws leaving the score at 43-27 with 1:01 left in the game. But even missed shots by Mansfield weren’t enough to give Booneville a shot at coming back for the upset as the Mansfield Lady Tigers rolled past Booneville with a 43-27 score on the scoreboard.