SHELBY — A foul shot is an unopposed, 15-foot look at the basket. Ontario’s girls basketball team is taking advantage of it these days.
For the second time this week, the Warriors used the line to claim a victory on Saturday, topping Mansfield Senior, 48-40, in the Richland Source Girls Basketball Challenge at Shelby High School.
Ontario (4-2) connected on 17 of 22 from the line, compared to just six of eight for the Tygers. On Tuesday, Ontario was 16 of 27 from the stripe in a six-point win against Clear Fork, which was just three of six.
The disparity at the line was not lost on Mansfield Senior coach Todd Krill.
“We put them at the line too much,” he said. “We only went eight times and they went 22. I don’t think we had a one-and-one until there was 15 seconds left in the game.
“The way that game was played, that’s a little hard to take,” the veteran coach said.
Ontario was in the bonus with 6:51 left in the game and connected on seven of 10 in the fourth quarter.
RALLY TIME: Ontario needed every point as the Tygers (1-5) nearly overcame a pair of double-digit deficits.
The Warriors jumped out to a 12-0 lead to start the game and after the Tygers trimmed it to eight at halftime, Ontario spurted out to a 37-21 edge late in the third quarter.
“That’s what we have been trying to teach our girls,” Krill said. “No matter what happens, keep playing, keep playing hard. That’s what they did tonight.
“The first three games, they may have given up a little bit at some points. Now we are doing better. We told the girls that the wins will come. Just keep playing hard and get after it,” Krill said.
Mansfield Senior senior Jordan Thompson opened the fourth quarter with six straight points to cut a 12-point lead to 37-31 as Ontario struggled against the Tygers press, committing four straight turnovers.
A pair of triples by freshman Ma’Kaya Marshall and junior Talayzha Catchings cut the Ontario lead to 40-39 with still 5:29 left to play.
Ontario rebuilt the edge to 44-39 with 2:51 left when disaster struck for the Tygers.
Catchings went out with an ankle injury and Thompson went to the bench with her fifth foul a few seconds later. Both of them had scored 14 points at that point and Mansfield Senior’s chances went with them.
“That was pretty tough,” Krill said. “That’s a lot of our scoring right there. If we would have had those two in (at the end), we could have taken care of it differently.”
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING: Senior Nashail Shelby led Ontario with 22 points, despite missing much of the first half with foul trouble. Senior Maddie Payne added 12.
Ontario shot 30 percent from the field (14-47) and 77 percent at the line. Mansfield Senior had the same number of FGs, shooting 32 percent (14-44) and 75 percent at the line.
The Warriors had a huge edge on the glass with 42 rebounds, compared to just 25 for the Tygers. Ontario committed 17 turnovers and Mansfield Senior had 21.
UP NEXT: Mansfield Senior returns to Shelby on Tuesday to take on the Whippets. Ontario hosts River Valley on Wednesday.
