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BARNSTABLE - With it all said and done, you could say the Hornets overachieved all season.
Still it doesn't make the sting of a first-round exit from the Division 1-South Sectional Tournament any easier.
"We didn't have a whole lot of height or a whole lot of experience, so to win 14 games and finish second in a pretty tough league, it was a good season," said Mansfield coach Mike Redding, whose team lost 11 players from last season's sectional finalist squad, including four starters. The 11th-seeded Hornets hung right with the sixth-seeded Red Raiders, even clinging to a one-point lead (34-33) after three quarters, but Barnstable's Regina Donaldson began to assert herself and Mansfield's missed free throws didn't help the cause. Donaldson scored 18 of her game-high 19 points in the second half. "She could not miss," said Redding. "She's a good-sized girl, but she has the ability to shoot outside." The Red Raiders (16-4) started the fourth quarter with an 8-2 run and pretty much maintained that margin until the end. "It was anybody's game going into the fourth, but they got off to the better start," added Redding. Seniors Michaela Bowes and Kate McCarthy went out in style. Bowes led the Hornets (14-9) with 13 points, including three 3-pointers, while McCarthy ran the offense and finished with 11 points, six assists and three steals. Senior Kelly English also had a strong game with nine points and eight rebounds.
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Bowes knows big shotsBY MARK FARINELLA SUN CHRONICLE STAFFMANSFIELD - Ever since her first season in a varsity basketball uniform, Michaela Bowes has displayed a penchant for playing big in the big games. This year's Mansfield Roundball Classic followed the same script, as the 5-foot-3 Mansfield High senior guard buried a clutch three-point basket with 12.4 seconds remaining in Tuesday night's championship game to give her Hornets a six-point lead and the cushion they needed to dismiss Dartmouth, 41-37, at the James Albertini Memorial Gymnasium. "Michaela, she's going to make that big three when you need it," Mansfield coach Mike Redding said of the big basket by the tournament's MVP, released after a feed from Tori Shannon. "The last one was the one that sealed the game." Seniors Shannon and Katie McCarthy also played big roles throughout the defensive-minded contest. Shannon took the ball to the basket in the fourth quarter and was able to draw four fouls, going 5-for-8 at the foul line - including the last two with one second left. McCarthy, meanwhile, scored all 10 of her points in the first half and dished out four assists, displaying a lot of poise in bringing the ball up against Dartmouth's press. The Hornets got off to a rough start, missing their first eight shots and falling behind 4-0 before McCarthy broke the ice with a basket off Jess Stoyle's assist with 2:59 left in the opening quarter. Bowes and McCarthy quickly followed with three-pointers to put them up 8-7 at the break, and Dartmouth (10-10) never regained the lead after McCarthy's shot with a minute left. McCarthy also netted the first and last baskets of the second quarter, putting Mansfield up 17-13 at the half. "She carried us in the first half," Redding said. "They were all over Michaela, and Katie hit a couple of threes. Now in the second half, they've got to play Katie honest and that opens up Michaela for the three and Tori for the drive, and Kelly English (six points, eight rebounds) battled hard inside." The lead swelled to 27-16 with 1:49 to go in the third quarter on two free throws by Bowes with 1:49 to go, but Dartmouth chipped away as Brooke Avila and Lauren Pires combined for three free throws in the last 1:20 to trail by eight points entering the final eight minutes. Ally Pontes scored five of the points for Dartmouth in an 8-3 run over the first 1:48 of the fourth quarter to cut the deficit to 30-27, Then after a free throw by Mansfield's Julie Campbell, Pires (game-high 17 points) netted two with 4:42 left to trail, 31-29. The two-point margin persisted through two exchanges of baskets before Shannon hit one of two with 1:20, and Bowes (13 points) threw in the big three with 12.4 seconds left to lead 39-33. Dartmouth took four points off that lead in the last 7.5 seconds on a putback by Pires and two free throws by Darian Silva before Shannon, who earned all-tournament status, iced the game with a second left. In winning their own tournament for the second straight year, the Hornets finished the regular season 14-8, with five wins in their last six games. They await their pairing in the MIAA Division 1-South tournament to be announced on Friday. "Tourney games are going to be like that, games in the 40s," Redding said, "and you've just got to find ways to win, however the game's being played."
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Bowes hits when it countsBY MARK FARINELLA SUN CHRONICLE STAFFMANSFIELD - Late in the third quarter of Sunday's game, Mansfield High girls' basketball coach Mike Redding decided to give his standout senior guard, Michaela Bowes, a rest. Bowes had just missed her fifth three-point attempt in five tries, and she was clearly disheartened by her inaccuracy. "Don't worry about it," Redding told Bowes. "You'll make two in the fourth quarter." Ah, the gift of prophecy. Bowes did exactly that - sending home her first successful three (on a pass from Katie McCarthy) with 4:40 left in the game against Lincoln-Sudbury, giving her Hornets a 29-23 lead. Then, with the visiting Warriors creeping back into contention, Bowes nailed a 25-footer with 1:22 left, and that was the death knell for any further comeback efforts. Mansfield (13-8) defeated Lincoln-Sudbury (13-6) in the nightcap of Sunday's Mansfield Roundball Classic play, 40-30, earning a spot in Tuesday's championship game at the James Albertini Memorial Gym (5:15 p.m.) against Dartmouth, a 56-26 victor over Woonsocket. Redding said he just had a feeling that his senior guard would come up big when her Hornets needed her. "She tends to be a little bit of a perfectionist," he said of Bowes, who has always thrived in a tournament atmosphere. "To shoot the three, you've got to get in a groove, and sometimes it takes four or five looks. We didn't get her a lot early ... you've just got to keep nudging her along, she's such a good three-point shooter." Bowes' fourth-quarter treys were two of just 17 baskets in the game. Defense and foul shooting were going to win this throwback to the 1950s, and Mansfield had the edge in both - limiting 6-foot-1 Warrior center Ashley Lutz to nine points, and making 20 of 27 free-throw attempts. "We played a good zone and did a great job on Lutz," Redding said. "She's a great player and we kept her in check. And we did just enough to win offensively." Mansfield got out to a 6-0 start in the first 3:14 of play, and those held for a 6-2 lead at the first stop. That became 16-9 at intermission, but Lincoln-Sudbury put together a 9-2 run midway through the third quarter, including threes by Kristen Ngan and Shannon Connelly, to tie the game at 20-20. McCarthy, Jess Stoyle and Kelly English were a perfect 6-for-6 at the foul line over the last 1:49 to take a 26-21 lead into the last eight minutes. It was 26-23 (on two Lutz free throws) when Bowes hit her first three, and Mansfield was leading by a shaky five points when Julie Campbell spied English alone on the baseline for an uncontested lay-in with 2:29 left. Lutz buried a top-of-the-key three with 1:44 to go, but Bowes came right back with her long-range trey to put the game out of the Warriors' reach. Tori Shannon (8-for-11) and McCarthy (7-for-8) were particularly effective at the charity stripe. Bowes and Shannon netted eight points apiece and English and McCarthy seven, English adding seven rebounds and McCarthy five assists.
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English beat BY MARK FARINELLA SUN CHRONICLE STAFF MANSFIELD - Presented with a rare second chance in a very unique situation, Kelly English delivered. Denied a game-winning basket when her coach called a timeout before she released the baseline-drive layup that would have won Friday night's Hockomock League crossover game, the Mansfield High senior center was fouled by Stoughton's Nicole Daniels on the inbounds pass with 2.2 seconds left, and sank both free throws to give her Hornets a 37-36 triumph over the Black Knights. Stoughton's Emma Zuk had missed the front end of a one-and-one shooting situation at the other end of the court with 9.6 seconds left. Mansfield came down with the rebound and senior Tori Shannon raced up the right sideline with possession and a defender tightly covering her. Somehow, Shannon got the ball to English, alone on the left baseline, but as she made her move to the basket, Mansfield coach Mike Redding called time from the sidelines. English's shot went in only an instant after the officials whistled play dead. "I could see a turnover coming and I thought Tori was a little out of control," Redding said. "But she made a great pass, and all I can say is thank you, Kelly English, for saving my butt. It certainly didn't look like a good decision." English's two free throws, sandwiched around a Stoughton timeout, improved Mansfield's record to 12-8 as the Hornets prepare for their season-ending Roundball Classic at the James Albertini Memorial Gymnasium, starting with a game against Lincoln-Sudbury at 7:15 p.m. Sunday. The last minute of play Friday had as much tension and drama as any of the Hornets' games this year. Stoughton took the lead, 36-35, under controversial circumstances with 1:01 left to play. The Knights' Chrystal Holland (game-high 20 points) had stolen the ball and was heading for an almost certain go-ahead basket when Mansfield's Katie McCarthy swooped in and tried to prevent it. McCarthy went for the ball but there was contact and a foul was called. Holland fell awkwardly to the floor and opened a large cut above her right eyebrow. A handful of enraged Stoughton fans tried to storm the court, but athletic department officials from both Mansfield and Stoughton joined Mansfield police officers in maintaining order as trainers attended to Holland's cut. Holland was unable to return to the game, so Mackenzie McGrath stepped to the foul line and sank both free throws to give the Black Knights the lead. Mansfield was unable to mount any offense in two possessions before Zuk's missed free throw. The Hornets led by 11 points early in the game, but saw that lead erode because the presence of Holland, the 6-foot-3 Daniels and 6-foot Katherine Chlus in the paint forced them to rely almost exclusively upon the three-point shot. Mansfield was 13-for-50 for the game and 8-for-30 from three-point land, 4-for-16 in the second half. "They're a very tough match up because they extend their guards and take away the three, and they know they've got Daniels and Holland sitting inside to protect anything easy," Redding said. Michaela Bowes (team-high 12 points) hit two of her four threes in the second quarter to preserve a 17-12 halftime lead. Bowes also drained one with 2:48 left in the third quarter to temporarily stave off a Stoughton rally, but Megan Crimmins, Holland and Chlus scored in the last 2:10 to trim the deficit to three points at the last stop, 27-24. Holland scored on a pair of jumpers at the start of the fourth quarter to give the Knights their first lead, 28-27, with 6:55 left. But Shannon and Jess Stoyle netted threes and English scored on a nice pass from Stoyle with 2:17 left to keep the Hornets perilously in front. Stoyle grabbed 11 rebounds as Mansfield posted a 39-35 rebounding advantage over the taller Knights.
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FRANKLIN - After building a 26-19 halftime lead, the Hornets couldn't hold back the Kelley-Rex Division champion Panthers,
Mansfield getting outscored 40-8 in the second half.
The Panthers turned to Katie Phelan and Alisha Wilde in their 28-point third quarter, the two combining for 21 of those points. Franklin's press did the job defensively on the Hornets, who only managed two points in the quarter. Phelan finished with a game-high 22 points. It was a close game throughout the first half as Michaela Bowes scored 12 (all on 3-pointers) of her team-high 14 points before halftime. The Hornets (11-8) finish 9-4 in the Hockomock League's Kelley-Rex Division, the Panthers, having beat Mansfield twice this season, wrestling away the league title. Mansfield will host Stoughton Friday night at 6 in the first game of a Hockomock League crossover doubleheader.
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Hornet girls roll BY MARK FARINELLA SUN CHRONICLE STAFF MANSFIELD - The last time these two teams met, the Attleboro High girls' basketball team gave Mansfield High's Hornets all they could handle in the fourth quarter of a 40-37 Mansfield win. But now, the Hornets are preparing for a tournament run by playing some of their best basketball of the season, while Attleboro is clearly heading in a less desirable direction. "They earned our highest level of respect last time over there, but I could tell our last two days of practice that our kids were playing hard," Mansfield coach Mike Redding said Friday after the Hornets' 59-19 thrashing of the Bombardiers at the James Albertini Memorial Gymnasium. "We talked about two things - first, in our zone, being more aggressive," he said. "I thought the last couple of weeks we'd gotten a little passive in our zone and I thought tonight we were more active with our hands and feet. And then offensively, we talked about execution and getting good looks, and I thought tonight was perhaps our best balance of the year, getting points inside, threes and some offensive rebounds for points." Attleboro led just once, 1-0 on a free throw by Kirsten Terrien 1:06 into the game. Mansfield's Kate McCarthy scored off Michaela Bowes' steal 19 seconds later, and that started a 13-0 run that essentially put the game out of the reach of the Bombardiers. Attleboro shot 18.2 percent from the field (6-33) and couldn't muster more than one basket in the first and fourth quarters. The Bombardiers didn't make double figures as a team until Brianna LaPlume's three-point play with 7:28 left in the third quarter. First-year AHS coach Missy Traversi took the loss hard. "I don't know what team I'm getting every night," she said. "A lot of that accountability has to come from me preparing my team, and also from our leadership. I think it's a combination of both. "I take these losses to heart and I hold myself accountable," she continued. "But the team that we've been in the past few games - how hard we've worked, the pride that we've shown - has been amazing. And in a game like this, to lay an egg and to get kicked by 40 points is an embarrassment and it's not what I'm all about and not what I want this program to be all about." It would have been difficult even on the Bombardiers' best night to counter what Mansfield brought to the table Friday. The Hornets sank nine of their 20 three-point tries and outrebounded AHS 31-25, 19-12 in the second half. McCarthy had a season-high 14 points (6-9 FG, 2-3 in threes) and five assists, while Bowes added 10 points and four assists. Every Hornet that played reached the scoring column. "We've played our two best games back-to-back," Redding said. "We were very good against Brockton wire-to-wire, and tonight we were good wire-to-wire. It's a good time to be doing it, obviously." McCarthy and sophomore Janet Maher scored two baskets apiece in the 13-0 first-quarter run that led to a 16-3 lead at the first stop. The Hornets had an 11-2 run to start the second quarter and led 27-9 at the half, and they popped in four three-pointers in the first 51/2 minutes of the third quarter to build a 30-point lead. In the final quarter, with Redding's reserves in the game, Mansfield took nearly all 30 seconds off each possession before shooting after Attleboro's Savannah Boyle hit a quarter-opening three. Boyle and LaPlume each scored five points to lead AHS (3-16, 2-11 in the Hockomock Kelley-Rex), which visits King Philip Tuesday. MIAA Tournament-bound Mansfield (11-7, 10-3) entertains divisional champion Franklin that same night.
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Hornets exact their revenge on Boxers MANSFIELD - After a rather forgettable second half on Sunday afternoon, the Mansfield High girls' basketball team put forth one of its best efforts in carding a signature, non-league win over Brockton Tuesday night. "That's maybe our best 32-minute effort this season. We had good offense, good defense and we had a ton of girls really step up," said MHS coach Mike Redding, whose team avenged a buzzer-beating loss to the Boxers in the season opener by rolling to a 59-41 victory. The Hornets, now 10-7 overall, were coming off of a 22-point loss to Coyle-Cassidy on Sunday afternoon. "We played a good first half against Coyle, but they were literally unstoppable in the second half," Redding said. "We came back (Tuesday night) and responded from that poor second half. We scouted Brockton against Franklin and they gave them all they could handle, so we thought we would have our hands full. We told the girls not to let them hang around, and we didn't." Alicia Rosario's 3-pointer at the buzzer gave Brockton a 45-44 victory in the first meeting between the two teams. There would be no dramatics this time around as Mansfield led wire-to-wire after going up 12-5 after the first quarter. Mansfield got a solid game from Michaela Bowes, who had five of the team's eight 3-pointers for her game-high 16 points. Kate McCarthy had a season-high 13 points and five assists. "(McCarthy) did a good job running the show, and to get double-digit points is a bonus," Redding added. "We did a good job of getting the ball to Michaela where she could just catch and shoot." Senior Kelly English continues to step up her game as, for the third straight game, she added to her career high, this time finishing with 14 points, including a perfect 6-for-6 from the foul line. The Hornets, already postseason-bound thanks to its second-place standing in the Hockomock League's Kelley-Rex Division, can "qualify the old-fashioned way," according to Redding, with a win over Attleboro Friday. "That's something we'd like to do, plus a win clinches second place by ourselves, and we want to work on our seeding as well."
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Beecher 1 FG 0/0 FT 2 pts Maher 0 FG 3/4 FT 3 pts Campbell,J 0 FG 2/4 FT 2 pts Bowes 2 FG 0/0 FT 6 pts (2-3's) Stoyle,G 0 FG 5/9 FT 5 pts English 3 FG 2/4 FT 8 pts McCarthy 2 FG 0/2 FT 4 pts Stoyle, J 2 FG 0/0 FT 5 pts (1-3 pt) 10 FG (7 2's, 3 3's ) 12/23 FT's
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Hornets make most of free time WRENTHAM - They only made two 3-pointers and they scored nearly half of their points from the foul line - not exactly the blueprint the Mansfield High girls' basketball team has followed to success this season, but it worked out that way Friday night as the Hornets knocked off King Philip 62-55 in a Hockomock League battle. It was Mansfield's ninth overall win (9-6) of the season, but more importantly the Hornets improved to 8-3 in the league, clinching at least a tie for second place in the Hockomock League's Kelley-Rex Division, and with that an automatic MIAA Tournament berth. Hornet coach Mike Redding was happy with his team's ability to adjust on the fly, but even more impressed with King Philip's caliber of play. "We did a good job getting the ball inside, more so than usual. King Philip did a good job taking away a lot of what we want to do on the perimeter, and our girls recognized it and drove to the basket," said Redding. "But you have to give a lot of credit to Meg (KP coach Megan Barry), her kids played hard and we had our hands full. They were in arms length the whole game. They're the most improved team in the league." Mansfield won the first meeting between the two teams, 47-27. Hornet sophomore Janet Maher was the difference-maker in this one as she filled in admirably for Erin Glavin, who was sidelined with an ankle injury. Maher was 7-for-7 from the foul line and finished with nine points. Kelly English also had nine points to give Mansfield another inside presence. As a result of the added inside game, Mansfield went to the foul line a whopping 39 times, connecting 28 times. English finished with a dozen points while Michaela Bowes led the team with 14 points, including the only 3-pointers. For King Philip, Ellen Wagner was the leading scorer with 13 points, while McKenna McMorrow added 11. King Philip (4-15) will host North Attleboro on Tuesday while Mansfield will entertain non-league Coyle-Cassidy on Sunday afternoon (3).
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MANSFIELD - By the time the clock struck 6:55 of the second quarter, both coaches -
Mike Redding of Mansfield High and John Del Bonis of North Attleboro High - had been slapped with
technical fouls. As further punishment for their early outbursts, the officiating crew took away
each coach's right to stand beside his bench, ordering them to sit. You could say the referees
called a timeout on the coaches. But such was the emotion behind the Hockomock League battle between the two schools Tuesday night. When Mansfield and North get together, neither wishes to end up on the sour end of the final score. The host Hornets would be that team leaving with the loss, as North rode a dominant first half to a 23-10 lead, then rode out a storm of Hornet offense in a 49-43 victory. Mansfield's Erin Glavin hit a 3-pointer out of the gate, but both her and the Hornet offense went stone-cold. The Hornets completed the first half hitting 2-of-23 field goals. Much of the offensive futility was caused by an amorphous North defense which sometimes went man-to-man and other times used a zone, but most of the time forced off-balance or low-percentage shots. "It was a combination of good (defense) and we didn't execute very well, not the way we're capable of. Missing the early shots, everybody kind of lost confidence and it snowballed and no one wanted to shoot," said Redding, who anticipated North's man defense but found it more stifling in person. "It's a little different in the game when your defender is 5-11 instead of a JV player that's 5-7. It took us awhile to catch up to their size and athleticism." Not helping matters was a dominant interior game by the Red Rocketeers, outrebounding Mansfield 25-13 through the first half and 50-27 through the contest. Megan Ronagan completed the proceedings with a double-double (15 points, 13 rebounds) and fellow junior Kate Kummer (eight rebounds) came away with some key boards down the stretch. The steady offense of North Attleboro (8-6, 5-5 league) shot 20-for-41 in the contest, aided by senior captain Meghan McHugh and senior Kerry Coyne who each contributed 10 points. Mansfield (8-6, 7-3) did warm up in the second half, with Michaela Bowes draining 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions on the way to her team-best 16 points. Kaitlyn McCarthy chipped in with five of her nine points in the third quarter. In all, the Hornets went 5-of-13 from beyond the arch in the second half, building a ripple of momentum that grew to a wave in the pressure-packed final minutes of the fourth quarter. Using a full-court press, Mansfield forced 10 second-half turnovers and got to the free-throw line plenty, as North's Sarabeth Parent and Ronagan fouled out. The Hornets, however missed some of those crucial free throws - making 6-of-12 in the fourth, with six of those free throws coming in the final minute of play - thus failing to close the gap to a possession. North held Mansfield at bay with Coyne hitting a jumper, and then a close-range shot to keep the lead. "I was a little concerned when they started to press, but we made some plays and broke the press; we showed some poise," Del Bonis said. Senior Jill Cullen (eight points, five assists) was instrumental in beating that press. While she didn't reach the 1,000-point mark on the night - she'll have a shot to do it at home against Attleboro Friday night, needing 14 points - her contributions were critical down the stretch. "(She's a) real good floor general," the coach said. "She handled the ball well. They double-teamed her, but she found the open people. She played a great game." The Hornets play at King Philip on Friday night in another Hockomock League match.
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Hornets have to fight past Sharon MANSFIELD - It took a tournament-type effort by the Mansfield High girls' basketball team Friday night for the Hornets to get one step closer to a postseason berth. Mansfield led almost from box-to-wire but ended up having to rally in the final minutes to knock off a pesky Sharon team in a Hockomock League interdivisional clash, 52-47 the final. "It's the first time we've really won a game where we were winning, then lost the lead and had to rally back, " said Mansfield coach Mike Redding. "They're a lot like us in terms of matchups. They're not very big, but they have some shooters, and they've been playing pretty good basketball of late." The win helped the Hornets move to 8-5 overall, but more importantly to 7-2 in the Hockomock League, and one more league win away from clinching second place in the Kelley-Rex Division behind Franklin - second-place in the league meaning an automatic tournament berth. But Mansfield almost let this one slip away. The Hornets rolled out to a 12-5 lead after the first quarter and led by as many as eight late in the game, but Sharon stormed back to take its first lead with 1:50 to play. Michaela Bowes answered with a big 3-pointer for Mansfield to get the lead right back, but Sharon ended up back in front with 1:05 left. However, Julie Campbell's drive for two and then Gina Stoyle's late free throws helped the Hornets put this one under wraps. "We kept our composure," added Redding. "When they took the lead, we got it right back. We didn't allow them to get up two or three possessions." Karlie O'Driscoll keyed the Sharon comeback as she scored 17 of her game-high 22 points in the second half. Mansfield got a team-high 14 from Bowes while Kate McCarthy had eight points and six assists and Kelly English had nine points and eight rebounds. The Hornets are back in action Tuesday, home against North Attleboro.
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Hornets overcome sluggish start BY DAVID CARTY SUN CHRONICLE STAFF FOXBORO - Through the first quarter, the master plan was seeing fruitful results. The Foxboro High girls' basketball team pressed and Hockomock League rival Mansfield folded, committing a slew of early turnovers. Then Mansfield regained control and its stroke, finishing 8-of-16 from 3-point range and running away with the league contest, 56-37 Tuesday night. Nary a Hornet reached double-digits, but senior center Kelly English was instrumental with nine points and 10 rebounds, pulling down loose balls to and fro in a dominant Mansfield fourth quarter. "Kelly played bigger than she is inside and that was a big difference," said Mansfield coach Mike Redding. "She played hard. She was active on offense, driving, and played hard on (defense). She's not the biggest kid but she's athletic, strong and mixes it up." Still, it was Foxboro getting the jump on Mansfield with a 10-2 lead out of the gate. Brooke Martyniak nailed a 3-pointer and Andrea Marcotte scored a bucket-plus-one for her only points of the game to get the Warriors going in the right direction. When the Warrior offense was without the ball, it was still pitching a curveball to the Hornets, coming out with a man-to-man press defense when Redding expected a zone. Gina Stoyle ended a Foxboro eight-point run with a 3-pointer with two minutes remaining in the quarter, fueling a lengthy 11-point run for the Hornets. The sloppy play for the Hornets dotted the second quarter while Foxboro (2-10) scored points on interior passing, enjoying a rare size advantage with Ashley Snyder and Ally Perry battling away in the low block. In the third quarter, Snyder earned three assists on field goals by Perry as the duo is quickly establishing a partnership after Snyder missed the first nine games of the season with an ankle injury. Mansfield (7-5, 6-2) held a slim four-point advantage and a short run of points heading into the fourth quarter. The Hornets extended that run to 13 points and added another 13 consecutive points late in the frame as four players scored seven-plus points, providing a surprising amount of depth in the runaway victory. "The difference tonight was our kids off the bench, our second team kids," said Redding, specifically noting the pair of 3-pointers courtesy of Katherine Campbell in the fourth quarter. "They came in in the second quarter and gave us a good run to get the lead. We brought them in late third and early fourth and never had to bring our starters back. That's a good sign having that second set of five come in against good defensive pressure and do some good things." "Once they hit a couple threes, our demeanor went down a little bit," said Foxboro coach Lisa Downs. "You could see the shift a little bit. In our man (defense), we were giving them too much leeway. We know who their shooters are and we just were giving them way too much flexibility with where they wanted to take their shot." Pacing Foxboro was Snyder with 10 points while Perry contributed eight points and nine rebounds. Senior captain D.J. Quadrozzi also had eight points. Both teams are engaged in Hockomock League battles Friday, with Mansfield hosting Sharon and Foxboro traveling to play North Attleboro.
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MANSFIELD - As a matchup circled on the schedule in the Hockomock League this week, the battle between the
Mansfield and Franklin High girls' basketball teams lived up to hype, with Franklin pulling out a 54-41
victory in a game that was tighter than the final score. Franklin ran out to an early 10-0 lead, and it looked as though Mansfield could not keep up with the undefeated Panthers. However, Mansfield quickly pulled within three, finishing the first quarter trailing 13-10. "That comeback in the first quarter was big for us, it gave us confidence and kept us in the game," said Mansfield head coach Mike Redding. As Franklin's offensive attack intensified, Mansfield kept the score close with the help of Michaela Bowes. Her nine points from hitting three 3-pointers revived the Hornets offense. Erin Glavin was also a key contributor to Mansfield scoring as she added 10 points, and connected on 4-of-6 free throws. Mansfield's discipline showed from its free throw statistics, hitting 83 percent from the stripe (10-12). With the loss, the Hornets fall to 3-1 in the Kelly-Rex division of the Hockomock, and 6-5 overall, while the Panthers improve to 10-0. Mansfield travels down the road to Foxboro on Tuesday.
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WEDNESDAY JANUARY 18, 2012 Mansfield keeps AHS at bay BY MARK FARINELLA SUN CHRONICLE STAFF ATTLEBORO - There is no "quit" in the Attleboro High girls' basketball team. Just ask Mansfield High coach Mike Redding. His Hornets had a seemingly comfortable 13-point lead at the start of the fourth quarter of Tuesday night's Hockomock League game at the AHS gym. But the Bombardiers hit three quick shots in the first minute and a half, and suddenly, the confidence had returned to Missy Traversi's team. "The frustrating thing was their ability to get a lot of offensive rebounds, especially on missed free throws," Redding said after his Hornets staved off a furious comeback to win, 40-37. "There's no excuse for that. (Attleboro) was hustling and playing hard, and we just didn't do a good job of boxing out." In the fourth quarter, Attleboro pulled down 13 rebounds to Mansfield's seven toward a 49-36 advantage for the game. Seven of those rebounds were off the offensive glass, and Brianna LaPlume and freshman Kerri Beland put two back into the basket to fuel the comeback. "It was just hard work that we battled back, and I'm very proud of the girls," Traversi said. "We worked hard on our rebounding, but I also think it was our switching on defense. We switched every screen, we jumped out at them, we played the show, we allowed them to drive on us and we had major help-side rotation." That effectively contested Mansfield's three-point shooting; after hitting 11 against Oliver Ames on Friday, the Hornets mustered just two threes out of 17 attempts against the Bombardiers. Traversi was also very pleased with the effort she got from a shorthanded team. Missing starters Abby Oliver (ankle sprain) and Jacey Copes (disciplinary suspension), Traversi had to start senior Savannah Boyle as the point guard and eventually turned to Beland, just up from the junior varsity, to be the quarterback down the stretch. "Kerri Beland just stepped up huge tonight," Traversi said. "She took care of the ball and did the little things. She played hard, and she didn't play like a freshman, which was important." It looked like a cruise in the making for the Hornets (6-4, 5-1 in the Kelley-Rex Division) when, after trailing 4-0 in the early going, Katie McCarthy and Michaela Bowes ran off 14 unanswered points before Kirsten Terrien's jumper broke the run with 5.6 seconds left. McCarthy and Bowes also scored on transition baskets to open the second quarter and create an 18-6 lead. Terrien's jumper with 22.9 seconds left was the only basket of the period for Attleboro, which trailed 22-11 at the break. The deficit reached 29-14 with two minutes left in the third quarter before Boyle, now out at the wing, hit a three-pointer, LaPlume hit one of two free throws and then converted her own miss to trail 29-20. Bowes hit two of three free throws and Katherine Campbell a short jumper in the last 40 seconds to restore the Mansfield lead to 13 points. But Terrien's short jumper in the lane, Emily Mayer's lay-in off LaPlume's feed and Boyle's drive were sandwiched around a lone free throw by Mansfield's Gina Stoyle, and suddenly it was a game again. Grabbing rebounds to keep possessions alive, the Bombardiers extended the run to 11-3 to trail 36-31 with 4:19 left. Then after two Tori Shannon free throws, Mayer hit a three and Boyle added a free throw to trail 38-35 with 2:49 left. Glavin scored a crucial basket on an inbounds pass from McCarthy with a minute left to put the game out of Attleboro's reach. "This is life in the Hockomock," said Redding, whose Hornets entertain division-leading Franklin on Friday. "Everyone's good and there are no easy ones."
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Hornet girls go cold in 2nd half
BY MARK FARINELLA SUN CHRONICLE STAFF
EASTON - Not blessed with a big girl prowling the paint this year as it has been for most of the preceding decade,
the Mansfield High girls' basketball team has been forced to haul out the long-range artillery in the effort to win
games.Friday night in the battle of the leaders of the Hockomock League's Kelley-Rex and Davenport divisions, the Hornets swapped their Howitzers for ICBMs, and were laying waste to Oliver Ames in the process. Mansfield sank 11 of 23 three-point attempts at the William Nixon Gymnasium and led the Tigers by two points entering the latter stages of the third quarter. But that's when OA coach Elaine Clement-Holbrook resorted to some good, old-fashioned trench warfare. Her Tigers hunkered down and played hard-nosed man-to-man defense, and the result was a run of 17 unanswered points spanning the third and fourth quarters, leading to a 54-40 win and Mansfield's first loss in five league games. "We knew we had to do something, because they shot 50 percent from the field and we were giving them too much space," Clement-Holbrook said. "Our closeouts weren't good and we didn't do a good job of switching on the screens initially, so we did a better job of that." "We shot our threes great," said Mansfield coach Mike Redding, "and then in the fourth quarter, they went to a very aggressive man-to-man, and unfortunately we're not very big and we can't pound the ball inside and try to drive and cut." OA (7-1, 3-1 in the Davenport), which had lost its first league game by a point to Franklin on Tuesday, held Mansfield to just one three-point basket (by Katie Campbell with 1:12 left) in the fourth quarter. That was in sharp contrast to a third quarter in which the teams battled through six lead changes and three ties. Mansfield clearly caught OA by surprise with the long bombs in the first quarter, racing to a 19-14 lead on the strength of 7-for-12 shooting from the field, 5-for-8 from three-point land. Senior guard Michaela Bowes popped in the first of three in a 9-3 run to close the quarter. But the Tigers, with a distinct height advantage, pounded the ball inside to junior Caitlyn Abela for a pair of baskets in a 9-0 run to open the second quarter. Mansfield's Erin Glavin banged home two threes to tie the score at 25-25 before OA guard Asia Mitchell took it strong to the hoop for a 27-25 lead at the break. Bowes (team-high 14 points) hit the first two three-pointers of the second half, but each Mansfield basket was met by an OA counter until Glavin hit a 19-footer with 4:17 left and Katie McCarthy followed with a three at 3:40 for a 36-33 Mansfield lead. Mansfield led 37-35 when the Tigers found their second wind. Candace Steadman started the big run with an 18-footer, followed by threes from Kate Holleran and Mitchell and a 43-37 lead entering the final quarter. OA added nine more points to the run off steals or turnovers to secure the win. "Once they extended that man-to-man and got out of their zone, we had trouble getting points," Redding said. "But we're a young team and we're battling, and we're still 4-1 in the league. We've just got to find a way to get some points inside right now." Glavin added eight points and Kelly English seven rebounds for Mansfield (5-4), which visits Attleboro Tuesday.
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MANSFIELD - At a disadvantage height-wise, as they are most times they take the court, the Hornets used their speed and athleticism to
outscore Stoughton 12-0 in the third quarter and win what was an otherwise nip-and-tuck contest. Presented a zone defense, the Hornets made the most of their open looks by canning eight 3-pointers. Michaela Bowes led the way with 10 points and three of Mansfield's 3-pointers. Mansfield (5-3, 2-0 league) will take on an undefeated Oliver Ames team on Friday. Shannon 1 (1) 0-1 3 Bowes 3 (3) 1-3 10 Glavin 3 (1) 0-0 7 G. Stoyle 1 (1) 0-0 3 English 3 0-1 6 McCarthy 2 (1) 2-2 7 J. Stoyle 1 (1) 0-0 3 J. Campbell 0 0-0 0 K. Campbell 0 0-0 0 Beecher 0 0-0 0 Totals 14 (8) 3-7 39 3-point goals-8 (Shannon, Bowes 3, Glavin, G. Sloyle, McCarthy, J. Stoyle).
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CANTON - Mansfield coach Mike Redding had a game plan heading into the matchup against Canton,
it was up to his Hornets to execute it. And they did, nearly to perfection. With Kelly English and Lauren Beecher doing the job defensively, Mansfield was able to bottle up Canton leading scorer Olivia Murphy, as the Hornets went on for the Hockomock League victory. "The Murphy girl came in averaging 17, 18 points, so we wanted to limit her touches," said Redding, whose team is 2-0 in the Kelly/Rex division of the Hockomock League and 4-3 overall. "Kelly (English) and (Lauren) Beecher did a good job alternating on her; we really packed it in and (Canton) wasn't hitting much from the perimeter." The Bulldogs, who trailed 36-14 after three quarters, were held without a 3-pointer, and they didn't help themselves at the foul line, going 10-for-25 at the stripe. Murphy finished the game with six points. Offensively for the Hornets, Michaela Bowes scored a game-high 11 points while Erin Glavin helped out with 10. Mansfield returns home Tuesday against Stoughton. Player FG(3pt) FT M/A Points Beecher 1 0-0 2 Shannon 2(1) 3-3 8 McEachern 1 0-0 2 J. Campbell 1 2-4 4 Bowes 4(1) 2-2 11 K. Campbell 0 0-0 0 Glavin 4(2) 0-2 10 G. Stoyle 0 0-0 0 English 0 0-2 0 McCarthy 0 1-4 1 J. Stoyle 1(1) 2-2 5 totals 14 10-19 43. 3-point goals- 5 (Shannon, Bowes, Glavin 2, J. Stoyle). JV: Mansfield, 38-21
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FAIRFIELD, Conn. - The Hornets rode a strong third quarter and the exceptional all-around play of
Tori Shannon to a victory in the Notre Dame-Fairfield Holiday Tournament consolation game.
Mansfield, which won the tournament last season, broke this one open by outscoring the hosts 20-7 in the third quarter. Shannon had nine of her 11 in the third alone. The senior was one of three Mansfield players to score 11 points (Erin Glavin and Michaela Bowes), but her defense was just as key to the Hornet win. "We put (Shannon) on their best player and she really shut her down," said MHS coach Mike Redding. "The Bell girl scored 18 in the first-round game and we were able to hold her to just two. Overall we had good balance and just played better defense in that third quarter." Kelly English also chimed in with eight points for the Hornets, who evened their record at 3-3. "Granted we didn't win it like we did last year, but it was a good bonding experience for the team," added Redding, the Hornets staying over two nights in Connecticut and taking a trip into Manhattan on their off day. Mansfield returns to Hockomock League play next Friday, at Canton. Shannon 3 4-4 11 J. Campbell 1 2-4 4 Bowes 4 0-0 11 K. Campbell 1 0-0 2 Glavin 4 0-0 11 G. Stoyle 1 0-0 2 English 4 0-5 8 McCarthy 1 0-0 2 J. Stoyle 0 0-0 0 Beecher 0 0-0 0 McEachsrn 0 0-0 0 Maher 0 0-0 0 Totals 19 6-13 51 3-point goals-Mansfield 7 (Shannon, Bowes 3, Glavin 3,)
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Staples pins OT loss on MHS Wednesday, December 28, 2011 FAIRFIELD, Conn. - A bounce here or there and the young Mansfield High girls' basketball team could very well have four wins already. As it is, the Hornets dropped to 2-3 after losing to Staples, Conn. in Tuesday night's first round of the Notre Dame of Fairfield Holiday Tournament, 47-46 in overtime. Staples reeled off the game's first nine points, but the Hornets settled down and eventually forced overtime before coming up short. For Mansfield, Michaela Bowes was high scorer with 16 points while Kate McCarthy added eight points and six assists. Senior Kelly English, who scored all six of her points in the second half, helped out with nine rebounds as well. Up next for the Hornets is ND-Fairfield, CT. Thursday's consolation game. Player FG(3pt) FT(a/m) Points Shannon 1(1) 3-4 6 J. Campbell 1 1-4 3 Bowes 4(3) 5-7 16 Glavin 3(1) 0-2 7 G. Stoyle 0 0-0 0 English 3 0-0 6 McCarthy 2(2) 2-2 8 K. Campbell 0 0-0 0 totals 14 11-19 45. 3-point goals-Mansfield 7.
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Hornets have rough time against Coyle BY MARK FARINELLA SUN CHRONICLE STAFF TAUNTON - It doesn't appear that the Coyle-Cassidy High girls' basketball team should be written out of the mix for postseason success in the MIAA Division 3-South tournament this year, even without Brenna Gonsalves. The Warriors, beginning life without their all-time leading scorer (now at Adelphi University), are still tall, still poised in the backcourt and still extremely aggressive defensively, as the Mansfield High girls learned painfully Thursday. Trailing 19-2 after the first quarter, the Hornets managed to pull within 11 points late in the third quarter before succumbing, 62-41, in a rough-and-tumble affair at Coyle-Cassidy. "We couldn't get the ball to the basket," said Mansfield coach Mike Redding. "They're very, very aggressive defensively, and we couldn't cut, we couldn't drive and it made it tough to score ... and then they shot lights-out to start the game." With 6-foot-1 sophomore center Linsay Bumila scoring two quick baskets in the paint, Coyle (2-1) ran out to an 8-0 lead before Mansfield's Michaela Bowes scored on a swooping layup to break the run with 5:32 left in the opening quarter. But the Hornets didn't put another ball through the twines until 46 seconds had expired in the second quarter. The Warriors sank all three of their three-pointers in the last 5:15 of the opening quarter, including one by Steph Skiba to create the 17-point bulge at the first break. The Hornets seemed to adapt to the fast pace, physical nature of the game and the short court over the first half of the second quarter. Julie Campbell opened it with a traditional three-point play, Tori Shannon followed with a three-pointer, and she added a later free throw for a 6-2 run that cut the deficit to 12 points. But the Warriors roared back. Bumila and senior Andrea DeSousa combined for a 9-0 run and a 30-9 lead at the 2:24 mark. The Hornets restored some of their confidence in the last minute as Erin Glavin scored on a jumper and Kelly English on a lay-in (both off Bowes' assists) and Bowes hit two of three free throws for being fouled outside the arc, bringing Mansfield within 30-15 at intermission. Mansfield switched to a more successful man-to-man defense in the second half, "but you can't go down 19-2 against a very good team at home," said Redding. "We battled the rest of the way, but 17 points in the hole in a hurry is very tough to overcome." Mansfield went on an 8-1 run in the third quarter, starting with Julie Campbell's drive off Jessica Stoyle's assist with 4:36 left. Bowes (off Campbell's steal), Shannon and Glavin all scored off penetrations to trail 38-27 with 1:54 left. But Bumila scored the first five points of a quarter-ending eight-point run, and then scored in the paint again as the Warriors ran off the first six points of the fourth quarter to lead 52-27. Mansfield popped in four three-pointers in the last 4:35, but that was nowhere near enough to overcome Coyle's big lead. "They're a nice club," Redding said. "We play these games to get better for the Hockomock. We didn't win tonight, but we learned some things that we're weak at and that we've got to get better, and hopefully it helps us in the league in January." Bumila paced Coyle-Cassidy with 18 points (7-8 FG, 4-5 FT), and DeSousa (10 rebounds) and Missy Perry added 14 apiece. Glavin, a junior forward, paced Mansfield with nine points, and Kelly English added a team-high seven rebounds. Coyle also won the rebounding battle, 42-39. Mansfield (2-2) will be playing Tuesday and Thursday of next week in the Notre Dame Academy Tournament in Fairfield, Conn. MANSFIELD Beecher 0-1 0-0 0 Shannon 2-15 1-2 6 McEachem 0-0 0-0 0 J. Campbel-l 2-7 1-35 Bowes 2-9 2-3 6 K. Campbell 1-3 0-0 3 Glavin 4-11 0-0 9 G. Stoyle 2-6 0-0 5 English 1-1 0-2 2 McCarthy 1-4 0-2 3 J. Stoyle 1-3 0-0 2 totals 16-65 4-12 41 3-point goals- Mansfieid 5-25 (Shannon 1-7, Bowes 0-5, K.Campbell 1-3, Glavin 1-3, G. Stoyle 1-3, McCarthy 0-2, J. Stoyie 0-2) Rebounds-Mansfield 39 (English 7) Assists-Mansfield 10 (Bowes, J. Stoyle 3) Total fouls-Mansfield 21, C-C 16. Fouled out-None. JV: Mansfield, 54-25.
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MANSFIELD - With a buzzer beating loss to Brockton in the season opener and an overtime nail-biter against North Attleboro the next time out, Mansfield High girls' basketball coach Mike Redding was hoping for a less-dramatic finish Tuesday night.
And he got it. With a balanced scoring effort and a defense which held King Philip to just eight, first-half points, the Hornets eased to a second-straight Hockomock League win, 48-27 over the visiting Warriors. "Yeah, between football and basketball, things going down to the final possession tend to wear on you," said Redding. "We did a good job in the first half at both ends of the floor and ended up building a decent lead. KP played hard, though, especially in the third quarter, but we were able to get the lead back up." Mansfield skunked KP in the first quarter, jumping out to an 8-0 lead. That lead was 25-8 at the break and never got closer than a dozen the rest of the way. When the Warriors did carve into the lead a bit, Tori Shannon had a key sequence to get it back up to 17 points with a drive for a basket and then a step-back 3-pointer. Shannon had another strong game, finishing with 10 points. Redding also highlighted the play of Gina Stoyle, who scored seven points and did a nice job running the point. Sophomore Lauren Beecher was solid on the boards and contributed six points, while Erin Glavin netted eight points. For KP, Alicia Cuoco was high scorer with her eight points. Mansfield (2-1,2-0 Hockomock) visits non-league Coyle-Cassidy on Thursday while King Philip (2-2, 02) looks to snap its two-game skid at Framingham on Thursday. FG(3pt) FT(made/att) total points Beecher 2 2-2 6 Shannon 4(2) 0-0 10 J, Campbell 1 0-0 2 K, Campbell 1 0-0 2 Bowes 1(1) 1-2 4 Glavin 4 0-0 8 G, Stoyle 2(1) 2-2 7 English 2 0-0 4 McCarthy 1(1) 0-0 3 J Stoyle 1 0-0 2 Delano 0 0-0 0 McEachern 0 0-0 0, totals 19 5-6 48, 3-point goals- Msf, 5 (Shannon 2, Bowes, G, Stoyle, McCarthy). JV: Mansfield, 44-34.
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Bowes drops in 26 for Hornets Saturday, December 17, 2011 NORTH ATTLEBORO - Tori Shannon and Michaela Bowes made some clutch free throws late in regulation to help the Mansfield High girls' basketball team get to overtime, and the Hornets went on to outscore North Attleboro to "steal" the Hockomock League victory Friday night, 69-67 the final. Hot three-point shooting out of the gate helped the Hornets out to a big lead, but they needed a last-minute comeback just to avoid a second-straight heartbreaking loss. With just 52 seconds left, Shannon converted both ends of a one-and-one and Bowes hit a couple of free throws after a pair of technical fouls were whistled, the two teams headed to overtime tied at 61-all. In the OT, Mansfield led by four with 20 seconds left and had to sweat out the win. North's Jill Cullen had a steal and a bucket to make it a one-possession game. The Red Rocketeers stole the inbounds and had a chance to tie, but a loose-ball scrum ensued and North could only muster a last-second heave. "It was a great high school game, hard-fought like it usually is. But we had a four-point lead and the ball inside of a minute left ... we need to finish that off," said North coach John Del Bonis. "Mansfield came to play and we really didn't. They were much more aggressive and we spent a majority of the game playing catch-up." The Hornets, coming off a buzzer-beating loss to Brockton in their opener, had a game-plan to offset North's height and size advantage, and it worked to perfection. Raining 3-pointers, Mansfield made six in the first quarter alone to help build a 21-12 lead. The Hornets ended up with eight 3-pointers in the first half and 12 for the game. "We really can't match up against their size so we just said 'hey, let's take 25-to-30 threes and if we can make 10 or 12 maybe we can steal this one,'" said Mansfield coach Mike Redding. "It was kind of a college mentality where you trade three for two and make sure you hit your foul shots. I thought we did a pretty good job of doing both." No one did it better than Bowes, who had six 3-pointers and was a perfect 6-for-6 from the foul line, all part of a game-high and career-high 26 points. Erin Glavin helped out with 14 points and Shannon chipped in with eight. Redding noted the inside play of Kelly English, Lauren Beecher and Glavin as well as freshman Jess Stoyle, who added five points off the bench. North Attleboro switched to man-to-man defense to limit Mansfield to one field goal in the fourth quarter, the Red Rocketeers outscoring the Hornets 20-11 to complete the comeback. Kate Kummer and Kerry Coyne had 10 points apiece for North while Cullen ended up with 16 and Meghan McHugh a team-high 18. "They're an excellent shooting team and Bowes really played well," added Del Bonis. "I just wish we had gotten off to a better start, rather than going down 11 out of the gate." Both teams are in action next Tuesday, Mansfield (1-1) with its home opener against King Philip.
FG(3pt.) FT(m/a) Total Beecher 1 0-0 2 Shannon 1(1) 5-9 8 Bowes 7(6) 6-6 26 K. Campbell 0 0-0 0 Glavin 5(3) 1-2 14 G. Stoyle 3(1) 0-0 7 English 2 0-6 4 McCarthy 0 3-4 3 J. Stoyle 2(1) 0-0 5 Totals 21(12) 15-27 69. 3-point goals-Mansfield 12 (Shannon, Bowes 6, Glavin 3, G. Stoyle, J. Stoyle), JV: North, 59-55 (2OT). |
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BROCKTON - Not exactly how Mansfield coach Mike Redding would have drawn up his season opener. The Hornets got off to a slow start, rallied back in the second half and were one second and about 30 feet away from a victory only to see Brockton's Alicia Rosario hit an NBA-length 3-pointer at the buzzer, giving Brockton the win. "I was happy with the way we played in the second half," said Redding. "It was their third game, our first, so it took us about a half to get into game-shape, and we have about seven kids getting their first taste of varsity playing time. Rosario's 3-pointer came after Tori Shannon helped finish off Mansfield's comeback in the final minutes. It was her layup with under two minutes to go that tied things, then after a Hornet defensive stop, Shannon set up Erin Glavin's jumper with 14 seconds left as Mansfield took the lead (44-42). "They got the ball inbounds, looked a little confused as they brought it up and then ended up heaving it up and it went in," Redding added. "In hindsight we probably should have just fouled her and made her shoot one-and-one (Brockton 1-for-11 from the foul line in the game)." Shannon finished with 11 points for Mansfield while Michaela Bowes led all scorers with her 16, including four 3-pointers.
FG(3pt) FT M/A points Shannon 2 7-10 11 J. Campbell 0 0-3 0 Bowes 6(4) 0-0 16 K. Campbell 0 0-0 0 Glavin 2 0-0 4 Stoyle 1(1) 0-0 3 English 3 2-4 8 McCarthy 1 0-0 2 totals 15(5) 9-17 44 3-point goals- Mansfield 5 (Bowes 4, Stoyle) |
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