The Mansfield Lady Lions were able to hold off a late-game surge by the Conway Lady Bears to claim the 55-48 victory on the road Thursday.
“It was a game of two halves—we played really well in the first half and not-so-well in the second half,” Mansfield coach Gary Green said. “We’ve got to be able to put four quarters together. We can’t play two good quarters then have two bad ones and expect to win. It almost cost us tonight.”
The Lady Bears, down 37-18 at the half, hit their stride in the fourth quarter holding the Lady Lions to a mere 6 points. Meanwhile Conway’s Olivia Dill starred on offense, putting up 12 of the Lady Bears’ 19 fourth quarter points.
Unfortunately for the home team, the fourth quarter only lasted the usual 8 minutes, and the Lady Bears came up short at the buzzer.
“It would have been nice if the game could have lasted just one more quarter, because it took us awhile to figure out Mansfield’s defense,” Conway coach Michael Lewis said. “But once we did I think things started going our way. The kids got excited and we started to find some things that were working for us.”
Dill was the lead scorer on the night, picking up 29 points for Conway with 16 rebounds, fueled in part by tandem ball handler Tessa Vaughn.
“Oliva Dill and Tessa Vaughn are a good duo, they work well together in our offense,” Lewis said. “Tessa saw that Olivia was hot and to her credit, Tessa took control of the ball and got it in to her and Olivia went to work.”
Conway’s foreign exchange student, Aizea Bidaurrazaga, had the biggest night of her career with 8 points while filling in at starting position.
The Lady Bears were struggling to fill the roles of the team’s top two offensive players, both out with injuries. Riley Luallin, senior post player, sustained a concussion last week and is day-to-day while sophomore point guard Maddie Archer is out with a foot injury.
“I told the girls before the game we’re in a tough spot, but (Mansfield) doesn’t win this game just because they show up, they have to take it from us,” Lewis said. “Of all the games we’ve played this year, this might be the top game of how proud I am of them because they fought so hard.”
Mansfield took control of the game in the first half, using their full court defense to force turnovers and put up quick points.
“Our run-and- jump defense creates a lot of points off turnovers and it worked tonight, too,” said Mansfield lead scorer Calista Bogart. “I feel like that’s where I do best as well as the rest of the team.”
The Lady Lions gained a sizeable lead in the second quarter which proved crucial late in the game when Conway refused to go down quietly.
With the win, Mansfield improves to 10-13 on the season and will face Forsyth on the road Monday in their final game before Districts.
“I think we are headed in the right direction, but time is short,” Green said. “We have one game left and then it’s Districts, so we’ve got to decide if we’re going to play our best game, now is the time.”
Conway, also 10-13, will host two State-ranked conference opponents next week—Hartville on Monday and Gainesville Thursday.
Mansfield 55, Conway 48
Mansfield 15-22-12-6—55
Conway 7-11-11-19-48
Mansfield—Calista Bogart 13, Adrian Adams 11, Karysyn Brooke 10, Alexis Farris 7, Maci Gray 7, Morgan Price 4, Abby Roy 3
Conway—Olivia Dill 29, Aizea Bidaurrazaga 8, Tessa Vaughn 5, Shea Walker 4, Halee Tucker 2
