Franklin Delivers a Tough Loss to Mansfield Girls

Mansfield varsity girls basketball lost to Franklin on Friday 54-41 in a key Hockomock League contest at home.

Franklin started a scoring ratio that would last them the game, starting with 12 points in the first period before Mansfield answered. The scoring stayed almost even after that, but Mansfield could not overtake Franklin.

"We battled, and kept hanging in there, but we couldn't get in that one run," Mansfield head coach Michael Redding said. "We just needed a couple more threes to get that lead."

The period ended at 13-10 Franklin in the lead.

Fouls played role early in the game, and helped more than once to give Franklin more possessions and free throws. Mansfield had 18 fouls and Franklin had 11 for the game.

The second half saw much of the same, with Mansfield scoring seven points and Franklin scoring 13. The half ended at 26-17.

 "We thought we'd play tough, they're bigger than us and we battled on the board pretty well," Redding said. "I thought we played hard. This is, I think, one of the top 10 teams in the state. We we went toe to toe."

Franklin came back with a vengence in the third period, racking up points left and right while Mansfield couldn't keep a streak going.

Franklin kept a steady 10-point lead in the fourth period, and ended the game at 54-41.

"It seemed like everytime we had a good run they'd answer," Redding said. "They did a good job down the stretch at keeping us at arm's length."

Mansfield's Michaela Bowes led the Hornets in scoring with a total of nine points, all three pointers. Kelly English followed close with eight points from two jump shots and two layups. Gina Stoyle, Victoria Shannon and Kaitlyn McCarthy each had six points, and Jessica Stoyle had four.