MANSFIELD, Mass. - Earlier in the season, Mansfield traveled to Wrentham and handed King Philip a tough four-point loss. Being just one and a half games back from Mansfield in the standings entering Tuesday’s game, King Philip was determined to avenge the loss from the first meeting. The Warrior’s determination really showed and it resulted in a 64-49 road win over the Hornets.
The game started out evenly as Mansfield and King Philip traded baskets before the Warriors got into foul trouble and as a result Mansfield was sent to the foul line on several occasions. Jackie Carchedi, Janet Maher, and her sister Caroline shot a combined to make 7-10 free throws. McKenzie Richardson led King Philip with nine points during the quarter as the Warriors went into the second ahead by just two with the score of 14-12.
However, the game started to get away from Mansfield during the second quarter. KP’s Grace Davis dropped a three-pointer at the beginning of the quarter to make the Warrior lead 17-12. The Warriors opened the quarter with a 12-3 run as they began to separate themselves from the Hornets, up 26-15. Mansfield went on a little run of their own to try to catch up as the first half winded down. Alyssa Kelley netted a three pointer to cut King Philip's lead to just five. But following a basket from Amanda Johnson, Emily Wagner drained a buzzer beating 3-pointer to make the KP lead 34-24 entering halftime.
Mansfield played much better all around in the third quarter. To open up the second half, Janet and Caroline Maher scored five consecutive points as the sisters helped the Hornets cut down KP's lead by six at 34-29. However, the Warriors then increased their lead to 10 with the help of made baskets from Alicia Cuoco, Ellen Wagner and Emily Sullivan. The King Philip lead failed to make Mansfield give up their hard effort, though. Janet Maher scored seven of her game high 19 points during an 11-5 run to shrink the Warriors lead to just four heading into the final quarter.
King Philip was able to pull away in the last quarter of play. Mansfield had a chance to take the lead at beginning of the quarter but poor free throwing shooting caused King Philip to hold onto the lead.
"We got them in foul trouble but we didn't do good enough of a job making free throws,” said Mansfield coach Mike Redding “Heading into the early fourth, we cut the lead to one or two but we could have had the lead if we made more free throws.
"They (KP) play very aggressive, they foul a lot,” Redding continued. “When you play them, you got to make as many free throws as you can when you're at the foul line."
The Warriors finished the game in very impressive fashion including a 20-8 run and when the buzzer sounded the score was 64-49.
King Philip head coach Martin Crowley was very pleased by his team's performance.
"We played great, finished the game great,” he said.“Mansfield is a very good team and well coached. Coach Redding does a great job getting those kids ready. I'm proud as heck of our kids. Big win on the road. Any win in our league is a good win since there are so many good teams.
"This win is a big boost in confidence,” Crowley added. “We've now won a couple games in a row on the road. We just got to be ready to play every night."
"We're 8-4, now we got to rally back,” Redding said of his team. “We have two days to get ready for Foxboro and we've got them at home. They're a lot like KP, they're very aggressive on defense. We got to work harder especially on defense. We can't give up 64 points and expect to win. If we score 49, we should be winning games."
Mansfield played without captain Lauren Beecher and it really hurt them.
"She's our best rebounder, best post defender so we definitely missed her tonight with her being out with the hand injury," Redding said.
King Philip (8-5) will look to keep their winning streak alive as they host Framingham, a team they beat earlier this season, on Wednesday evening. Mansfield (8-4) will look to try to get back in the win column as they host Foxboro on Friday.
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