It’s safe to say that the Mansfield Lady Tigers program came into its 2022 season as the favorite to win the 2A-4. The Lady Tigers finished their 2021 season as Conference, District, and Regional Champions before losing to England in the first round of the State Tournament. To top it off, Mansfield only lost two seniors from last year’s roster and their former 2A-4 rivals, Acorn, were shuffled to the 2A-7 conference for the 2022 season. Teams across the state at every level of the game would love to have that kind of setup. But Mansfield is looking for something bigger than past accolades to show off this season. They want to bring home a State Championship. To win big you have to play big though so the Lady Tigers scheduled their first three-game against bigger 3A programs to test their might. After downing Charleston and Booneville by a combined score of 122-72, the Lady Tigers set their sights on their Scott County rivals, the Waldron Bulldogs.
As the Lady Tigers stepped onto the court, a familiar face would be on the opposing bench as former Mansfield Coach, Joshua Bryan, was suited up in Waldron orange and black. With an opponent’s coach knowing everything about their team, Mansfield might have some struggles and they surely did in the first quarter as Waldron held the Lady Tigers to a slim 12-5 lead early on. It could have been cobwebs, rust, or emotions that slowed Mansfield down early, but whatever it was, Lady Tigers Head Coach Ethan Bowman found a way to dust it off his team and it was off to the races as soon as the second quarter started. The Lady Tigers scored six unanswered points behind the S&K Railroad of Seven Sanderson and Kaylee Ward. As Waldron began to focus on derailing the Lady Tigers “bigs”, Kynslee Ward set the court ablaze with three straight steals and a score. Natalie Allison then stepped up and drained a three-point shot from downtown and followed it up with a steal and score forcing a Waldron time-out. The time-out might have given Waldron’s players a break, but the Lady Tigers didn’t give the scoreboard that same courtesy. Kynslee Ward took the inbound after Waldron’s time out and screamed the full court’s length for a quick layup. With Waldron empty on ideas to stop Mansfield, the Lady Tigers seemed to only be getting “Fuller”, as in Harlie Fuller. Fuller entered the court and dropped an immediate three-pointer upon entry and then took down the Lady Bulldogs with some fierce defense to close the half. Mansfield went to the locker room at halftime with a commanding 38-10 lead.
When halftime ended and the teams returned to the court, it was clear that the Lady Tigers are more than merely a hype, they are downright legit. Kaylee Ward scored the first points of the second half with a smooth layup to jumpstart Mansfield’s offense. The train kept on rolling as Ward and Seven Sanderson continued dominating the smaller Lady Bulldogs at the boards. Although she was relatively quiet in the first half, Allison Edwards picked up the microphone in the second half and made sure everyone knew she was there. Edwards opened up with an arsenal of layups, and rebounds, and drew fouls for free throws to overhead the lights on the scoreboard taking the Lady Tigers to the end of the third quarter ahead of Waldron 56-18. There were no brakes on this runaway Lady Tigers train as they steamed forward through the fourth quarter holding the Lady Bulldogs to just two points to defeat Waldron with a 61-20 final score. Seven Sanderson powered her way to lead the Lady Tigers in points as she dominated by scoring 16 points at the baselines. Coming right behind Sanderson was freshman Kaylee Ward who rolled up 12 points on the night. Natalie Allison and Alyson Edwards combined for 19 points in the game while Kynslee Ward knocked down 7 points on the Lady Bulldogs. Closing out the scoring spree for Mansfield was Harlie Fuller with 5 points and Trinity Triska with 2 points. Although scoring is always a good thing, Mansfield’s stiff defense held Waldron to an average of just five points per quarter in the victory. In their first three games, the Lady Tigers have outscored their opponents 183-92 proving that can sweep, mop, and even wax the floor on both offense and defense against larger programs.
“Mansfield versus Waldron is always a big deal,” said second-year Head Coach Ethan Bowman. “The game’s crowd and the atmosphere are everything you want as a player and coach. After the way we finished against Booneville, it was important for us to play our game for four full quarters against Waldron. I thought the girls played very hard and well, but there are still some details that we have to continue to work on and get right as the season continues. Overall, I thought we played much better in this game. The girls made the extra passes, established their presence inside, and ran their transitions well. It was a good win in front of our home crowd.”
The Mansfield Lady Tigers are proving everyone right so far by starting out 3-0 in nonconference play. While nonconference play doesn’t count to some spectators, a win is a win to the Lady Tigers. Once they hit conference play, Mansfield will face 2A-4 opponents such as Magazine, JC Westside, Mountainburg, Lavaca, Future School, and a challenging new opponent in the Hector Wildcats. With all of the conference games, nonconference games, and tournaments that lie ahead of Mansfield, the only the Lady Tigers are focused on right now is who’s next. Well, that would be none other than the Cedarville Lady Pirates. The Lady Tigers will face Cedarville on Tuesday, November 22nd for their Game2 of the FCA Turkey Week Shootout hosted by Mansfield.
