By Megan Hecox
The Mansfield Jr High Tigers bounced the Greenland Pirates back to Neverland in last nights basketball showdown. The Lady Tigers were victorious 34-27 against the Lady Pirates while the Tigers scored a tight 32-29 triumph over the Pirates. Mansfield will get a 13-day break to rest and fine-tune some skills until getting back in the action on January 3rd for their non-conference game at Danville.
The first half of the game was slow getting off the ground. The girls went into halftime with a score of 15-13 Lady Tigers. Getting a little pep in their step, the Lady Tigers flew through the second half of their game with more aliveness and ferocity adding 19 more points to the board. 7th grader Alyson Edwards led the team with 15 points. Sadie Roberts and Skylynn Harris brought in a combined 13 points. And Natalie Allison, Kynslee Ward, Olivia Bouse, and Harlie Fuller secured the remaining 6 points. With this victory against the Lady Pirates, the Lady Tigers have now upgraded their conference play record to 2-4.
The boys’ team didn’t need any help jump-starting their game. The Tigers and the Pirates shot up and down the court like bolts of lightning, delivering back and forth hoop action. One highlight of the night came from Freshman Austin Carlton. Austin pulled off the perfect Michael Jordan move as he leapt up spinning in the air to snatch a rebound, scoring a single-handed basket while delivering the perfect “Whoop-De-Carlton-Doo.” Tyler Escalante brought in 9 points for his team. Clint Stovall made 6 points and Ethan Pettus added 5 points. Bringing in the remaining 12 points were Steven Perez, Zayne Dugan, Austin Carlton, and Dalton Pettigrew. The Tigers will be heading into the new year with a 4-2 conference play record.
