MADISON TOWNSHIP — Leah Boggs, Chesney Davis and Kari Eckenwiler aren’t old enough to get a driver’s license yet.
But that didn’t stop the talented trio from driving Mansfield Senior crazy on Saturday afternoon during a 61-53 Madison girls basketball victory.
The three Rams, a sophomore and two freshmen, combined to score 45 points as Madison won for the third time in five games and improved its record to 6-5 overall and 2-5 in the Ohio Cardinal Conference.
Mansfield Senior dropped its sixth straight game to fall to 1-11 overall and 1-5 in the league.
Boggs, a 5-7 sophomore wing, knocked in 22 points. Freshman wing Chesney Davis (5-6) had 13 and 5-8 freshman Kari Eckenwiler, who has spent most of the season on the JV team, came off the bench to score 10.
Youth being served was essential, just as it was earlier this week when Madison edged West Holmes.
“We were missing a couple of seniors and a junior today,” Madison coach Rodger Davis said.
“A lot of kids stepped up, especially on the defensive end. That leads to what we want to do, which is get out and run and get some easy baskets,” Davis said.
FOUL LINE SUCCESS: A key to Madison’s win was success at the foul line, where the Rams connected on 13 of 18 shots in the fourth quarter alone. For the game, Madison was 24 of 33 from the line.
The offensive glass was also key with the taller Rams pulling down 10 offensive rebounds in the fourth quarter.
“We went at their big and she got into foul trouble. We wanted to keep going inside … we got great backside support crashing the boards. Everyone was crashing,” Davis said.
Mansfield Senior battled throughout behind the 25 points from junior point guard Talayzha Catchings. The Tygers led 24-22 at the half and 28-26 with 5:06 left in the third quarter. That’s when Madison went on an 8-0 run, building a 34-28 lead it never surrendered.
Mansfield Senior kept it close throughout the final period, trailing just 51-48 with 2:19 remaining. But Boggs scored seven of her points in the final two minutes to help seal the deal.
“(Catchings) stepped up big for us,” said Mansfield Senior coach Todd Krill, who was ejected with 17 seconds left after earning back-to-back technical fouls while questioning the officials. “We needed a boost like that from her. She hit some big shots. I am proud of the way she played.
“I am proud of the way all our girls played. We have told them there is no such thing as quit … you play to the buzzer. I didn’t get to see the final buzzer today, but I know they played to it,” Krill said.
IMPROVEMENT SEEN: Davis said he has seen amazing improvement in his young team.
“Earlier this season, we played five games in eight days and we were just dead. We had a nice break of two and a half or three weeks and were able to fix some things. We have looked pretty good the last two games,” David said.
Junior Rebecca Phelps added 10 points for Madison in the win.
Catchings was the only Tyger in double figures. Senior guard Jordan Thompson had nine points, all coming in the second half. Sophomore post JayJahe Feagin had six points in the first half before getting into foul trouble and ultimately fouling out in the fourth quarter.
UP NEXT: Madison hosts Mount Vernon on Thursday in another OCC game. Mansfield Senior is at Lexington that same evening in another conference game.
