MANSFIELD — The Tygers found a way.
Mansfield Senior jumped out to a big first-half lead and held on for dear life in the second for a 46-44 win over Shelby in a battle of Richland County heavyweight girls basketball teams Tuesday night at Pete Henry Gym.
Senior High (14-1) connected on just 4-of-20 free throws, but knocked down 19-of-40 field goal attempts and forced the Whippets (11-3) into an uncharacteristic 20 turnovers.
“In the second half, we went away from what we do. We didn’t trust,” Senior High coach El Meeks said. “We’ve been in close games, but it was a little different this time because it is Shelby.
“That’s the pedigree of Shelby. We have to give them credit … because they have the heart of a champion.”
The Tygers were in complete control for the opening 12-plus minutes of the first half, building 24-5 lead after a steal and layup by Monetta Hilory with 3:24 remaining in the second quarter. The Whippets responded with a 10-3 burst to close the half and trailed 27-15 at the break.
“It wasn’t pretty and it most certainly wasn’t our best basketball, but … we were able to get some scores and claw our way back,” Shelby coach Natalie Lantz said. “To me, that makes me more happy than anything. We did not give up, not ever.
“We were very flat for almost two quarters. With three minutes to go in the second quarter we finally started attacking.”
The momentum of the final three minutes of the first half carried over into the third quarter for the Whippets. Shelby outscored Senior High 14-6 in the period and went to the fourth trailing 33-29.
Senior High’s Kyeona Myers stopped the bleeding momentarily, draining a 3-pointer for a 36-29 lead. The Whippets responded with a 5-0 run and cut Mansfield Senior’s advantage to 36-34 on a Charlie Niese 3-pointer with 5:49 remaining.
The Tygers answered with a 7-2 spree to make it 43-36 on an Annaleise Norris offensive rebound and putback with 2:39 to play.
Still, the Whippets refused to go quietly. Shelby cut Mansfield Senior’s lead to 45-42 with 10 seconds to play, but Myers split a pair of free throws with 8.9 seconds left to make it 46-42.
An Eve Schwemley layup made it 46-44 with four seconds left, but Shelby was out of timeouts and the Tygers didn’t need to inbound the ball before the clock expired.
Hilory paced a well-balanced Senior High attack with 11 points. Myers added nine, while Dazi Manns chipped in with seven. Juleah Windham had six points and seven rebounds.
Schwemley led the Whippets with a game-high 18 points, eight rebounds and four assists. Niese had nine points and three steals, while Sophia Long added six points.
“I just told the girls to get their heads up,” Lantz said. “We were down 18 or 20 points … and we fought back.”