Mount Vernon News

Tygers pull away from host Colts

BELLVILLE — The Mansfield Senior High School girls basketball team pulled away in the final quarter to beat the Clear Fork Colts, 51-38, in Ohio Cardinal Conference action on Thursday.

The Colts (7-10, 3-9 OCC) lost, in spite of a 17-point performance by Ashley Dorner (8-of-10 field goals) to lead all scorers.

“Ashley finally got hot for us,” Clear Fork coach Jonah Popa said. “It had been a few games. She went ahead and made the big shots for us tonight.”

It looked like Clear Fork had a chance with 5:30 left in the final quarter. The Colts cut the Tygers’ lead to 37-34 on a Jordan Layfield bucket. The Tygers (11-5, 8-4 OCC) got steals from Jesse White (12 points) and LaShonna Bond (8 points), who both scored as part of a 7-0 run to pull ahead, 44-34, with 3:20 to go.

“That’s the way we play. We play in spurts,” Mansfield Senior coach Todd Krill said. “We rely on our defense to help us get in our spurts.”

Those spurts seemed to come at the worst times for the Colts.

“We turned the ball over at inopportune times,” said Popa. “(The Tygers) had five offensive rebounds in the first half and 16 for the game and you just can’t give Senior High that many extra jams or you are going to lose.”

The Colts took a 10-7 lead in the first quarter and were still up, 12-11, with 5:45 remaining in the first half. Dorner and teammate Liz Bidlack (eight points) had all of the Colts’ offense to that point.

The Tygers tied it up at 14 with under 3 1/2 minutes left in the half. White hit a jumper to give the Tygers a 16-14 advantage with 2:54 left before halftime.

The Colts, still down by a pair at the half, came out flat to start the third quarter.

“They (Mansfield Senior) played a lot better defense in the second half. In the first half we attacked and moved the ball. In the second, we sort of got complacent and stood around,” said Popa. “I don’t understand that, because they were pumped and ready to go coming out for the second half.”

Part of the Colts’ problem was that they were going up against the Tygers’ inspired defensive play.

“When we went in at halftime, I asked them to turn it up a notch because it was going to come down to defense and defense can lead to scores,” said Krill. “There were a few times that we got a steal and took it down for a layup.”

Yanette Feagin (15 points) scored inside off an offensive rebound and then hit a three to put the Tygers up by eight. At 6:04 of the third, Shonica Block (seven points) drove the lane for an easy 2-pointer and gave the Tygers a 10-point lead, 27-17.

The Colts, in spite of their problems, managed to comeback in the game. Becca Mottayaw (three points) joined up with Bidlack and Dorner to get to within six of the Tygers, 35-29.

Then a 17-10 scoring run would bring the Colts to within three points at 37-34. That would be as close as the Colts would get.

“It seemed that every time that we got close,” said Popa. “We would just turn the ball over, sometimes two or three times in a row.”

In junior varsity action, Mansfield Senior took home a 28-18 victory. Sara Hitchman had 12 points to lead Clear Fork.