Mansfield Girls Basketball Beat Stoughton 37-36 in Barnburner

The Mansfield girls varsity basketball team beat Stoughton on late free throws by Kelly English, 37-36, Friday in what turned out to be an extremely close game. 

"They're a very tough matchup," Mansfield head coach Michael Redding said. "We're glad to get out of this with a win."

Mansfield started with a good deal of momentum early on, and it looked like they would keep it. The Hornets ended the first period with a 9-3 and the half with a 17-12 lead.

Mansfield rebounded the ball much better than Stoughton during the first half, despite the Black Knights having a distinct height advantage over the Hornets. The second half would, however show two very different teams. 

"We jsut seemed to come out a little lax, we just didn't seem to be into the game at the beginning," Stoughton head coach Janet Sullivan said. "I think my kids just got tired of being pushed around, and I mean that in a good way. Mansfield was playing good agressive ball, and we needed to step it up."

Stoughton kept up with Mansfield in scoring during the third half, increasing both their rebounds, steals and agressiveness for the period. Mansfield hung on to the lead, but in such a low coring game, their lead was not concrete. The third period ended at 27 to 24.

Stoughton came back with a vengence during the final period of play, picking up a good deal of momentum and the lead twice during play. Early on, Stoughton managed to edge ahead of Mansfield at 6:55 28-27, but the Hornets fired back with five points two minutes later to seeminly cement their lead at 33 to 29. English brought the lead to 35 to 32, keeping up a steady pace with 2:25 left in the game.

"Every point was very hard to come by," Redding said. "Our turnovers were so costly, it seemed like evey turnover lead to a breakaway layup [for Stoughton]."

Then Stoughton picked up their momentum. Stoughton's Chrystal Holland made three fast breaks to the basket in the fourth period, and was fouled each time. On the third drive she landed badly, and could not finish play. Sullivan said that Holland needed hospitalization.

"I'm real pleased with my team," Sullivan said. "After Chrystal was taken out, they really stepped up."

On the last foul, Mackenzie McGrath took Holland's shots for it and took Stoughton into the lead again 36-35 with about a minute left in the game.

Stoughton got he ball back, but Mansfield took possession with 30 seconds left in the game. Mansfield lost possession with ten seconds left, but regained it with 2.2 seconds. In that time, English was fouled trying to get a shot of. She scored on the foul shots, and won the game for Mansfield.

Mansfield will face Lincoln-Sudbury in the first round of the Mansfield Roundball Classic Sunday at 7:15 p.m.