MANSFIELD — The Tygers hit the snooze button one too many times Thursday night.
Mansfield Senior sleep-walked through the opening four minutes of the first quarter and never heard the alarm go off to start the third in a 56-44 loss to Louisville at Pete Henry Gym.
Senior High (5-10) trailed 10-0 less than four minutes into the game before outscoring the Leopards (6-9) 11-2 the rest of the period and trailed 12-11 going to the second.
The Tygers took the lead twice early in the second quarter, the first on an Ahmani Mitchell layup with 5:59 to play in the half and the second less than a minute later on Julia Rizzo’s layup. Louisville responded with a 15-9 run to close the half and led 31-26 at the break.
“Starting the game fast like that has been huge for us,” Louisville coach Chris Esterak said. “I think we set the tone with our defense and we did it again to start the third quarter.”
The Leopards opened the third on a 9-0 run and took a 40-26 lead on senior Sherilynn Mullett’s layup with 4:33 to play in the period. Another Mullett layup with 3:08 remaining sparked an 8-0 run to close the third as the Leopards opened a 48-31 advantage.
“We came out kind of lax in the third quarter and we try to pick it up,” said acting Senior High coach El Meeks, who is filling in while head coach JeVar Hudgens is in quarantine because of COVID-19 contact tracing protocols. “We are young, so they don’t understand you have to start fast in the first half and have to start fast in the second half.
“The first three minutes are crucial in the first quarter and the third quarter.”
The Tygers outscored the Leopards 13-8 in the fourth quarter, but the damage already had been done. Senior High could never trim the deficit to less than 1 points in the period.
“We tried to keep Mansfield off-balance with our defense, whether it was man-to-man or zone or a trap. We wanted to mix things up,” Esterak said. “Offensively, I feel like we’re getting in the groove at the right time.”
Mullett led the Leopards with 18 points. Kendal Loy added 14, while Paige Cole had 13.
Rizzo led the Tygers with 15 points. Kiyah Wentz had nine, while Dakiyah White had six.
