Mansfield Girls' Basketball Team Didn't Want to End Season

Sometimes, it really isn't about the plaque you get for winning or grabbing the headlines in victory.
Sometimes, it just about playing with your friends and having fun while doing it.
Sure, the Mansfield High girls' basketball team would have like to have beaten New Bedford last Friday and play Andover Monday night at TD Boston Garden.
And, of course, it would have been a huge deal to play for the state title Saturday against either Algonquin or Amherst.
But, that's not why the Hornets were feeling down after losing to New Bedford, 48-46, on the parquet.
It was more that they were disappointed that they weren't going to be able to play together as a team again. Bridget Davis, Kelli McPherson, Colleen Copley, Krista Luchette, Meghan Keohane and Kathryn "Soup" Campbell all wore the green and white for the last time on the parquet floor.
"It's more that we're never going to get to play with each other again and the season is over," said Campbell. "This has been one of the best basketball seasons ever."
That's why it was hard to say goodbye for this year's team. Sure, they were successful. After all, not too many teams make return trips to the Garden, but there was more to them then just victories."
"I'm going to miss it," said Davis. "In my whole career, definitely, I could ask anything else than three trips to the Garden, two last year and one this year, and being a Hock champion. It's tough losing, but as a senior, you really can't ask for anymore."
From last summer with his football team to winning the Super Bowl and then just jumping into basketball season, Redding has been on a quite a coaching ride for the eight months.
"It was such a fun year," said Mansfield High head coach Mike Redding. "As much as it was a great year with wins, if this group had gone 12-8, they would have just as much fun together. I think it's more than not that we lost, but they know it is over and it's just been so fun ride. They are such great kids. I don't know if we are 24-2 basketball team, but it was great chemistry, great unselfish play. I think we played above our skill level a lot because of that chemistry."
That what made the 2010-11 Hornets a special bunch.
"It's a great experience to be with each other," said Copley in the Will McDonough Media Room at the Garden Friday night. "You just don't want it to end."
That's why winning and the big headlines took a backseat on that night in the disappointment department.
When it was all said and done, it's just a bunch of players who didn't want to stop playing together.