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Sports

Rest And Practice Hopefully Recipe For Success For Mansfield

Hornets open Division 1 South Sectional by hosting Dartmouth on Wednesday night.

With eight days between games, the Mansfield High girls’ basketball team has gotten some much-needed rest and also gotten back to the basics in practice in preparation for its opening game of the MIAA Division 1 South Sectional Tournament.

The Hornets will enter the Division 1 South Sectional as the second seed with a 21-1 record, marking the first time in the program’s history that they have won 20 games.

New Bedford is the top seed in the section with a perfect 20-0 mark. After Mansfield, Newton South is the third seed with a 19-1 record, while Wellesley is fourth at 18-2.

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“We have as good a chance as anyone of advancing out of the South,” said Mansfield coach Mike Redding. “With our experience, we will be a tough out. This team has a lot of confidence and wants to get back to the (Boston) Garden. The kids want another shot at Andover.”

Mansfield lost to Andover, 60-52, in the state semifinals last year at the TD Garden.

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Mansfield will face 15th-seeded Dartmouth in the first round on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the James Albertini Memorial Gymnasium. The Indians (9-6) advanced to the first round with a 60-46 home victory over 18th-seeded Barnstable (9-10) on Monday night.

After the Red Raiders took a 9-2 lead, the Indians went on a 21-0 surge over the next nine minutes to take control at 23-9. Dartmouth scored the final 12 points of the first quarter to take a 14-9 lead and notched the first nine points of the second to open up a 14-point lead at 23-9. After a basket by the Red Raiders, the Indians went on an 8-4 surge to end the half and take a 31-16 lead at the break. Dartmouth forced 21 turnovers in the first half.

Senior standout Molly Brown continued her terrific season for the Indians, scoring a game-high 22 points to go along with 10 rebounds, eight assists and five steals.

Wednesday’s contest will be a re-match of one of the season’s best games. A lay-up by senior captain and forward Kathryn Campbell as the buzzer sounded gave the Hornets a 51-50 victory in the opening round of the Mansfield Roundball Classic, 10 days ago.

The Hornets held just a one-point advantage after the first quarter, 13-12, but the Indians outscored the hosts 15-6 in the second to take an eight-point lead at the half, 27-19.

Mansfield bounced back in the third, outscoring the Indians 15-9 to close the gap to two at 36-34. The Hornets then looked to have control of the game late in the fourth quarter, holding a 49-45 lead with 31 seconds left, but a three-pointer by Brown with 21 seconds remaining made it 49-48 and a jumper by the Dartmouth star with nine seconds left gave the Indians a one-point lead at 50-49 before Campbell’s heroics at the end.

“They played well in that game,” said Redding. “They are not a big team, but they handle the ball well. We have to get off to a better start and take advantage of our home court.”

Brown, who eclipsed the 1,000-point mark earlier in the year, scored 20 points during the game against the Hornets, hitting 7 of 10 from the field and both of her free throws.

“She can take over a game,” said Redding of Brown. “She is one of the top 10 players in the state. She scored 20 points during that first game and we can’t give her 20 again.”

Dartmouth finished in second place in the Old Colony League during the regular season with a 4-2 mark, trailing only league champion Taunton, which was 6-1.

Mansfield then completed a stretch of seven games in 14 days with a 49-44 win over Lincoln-Sudbury in the championship game of the Roundball Classic last Tuesday night.

The Hornets went 6-1 during that span with the only loss being a 48-44 setback to Oliver Ames during the Hockomock League Classic Cup in North Easton.

“We played a lot of games in a short period of time against some good teams,” said Redding, whose team got wins over Franklin (twice), North Attleboro, Attleboro, Dartmouth and Lincoln-Sudbury. “To win six of those seven is a pretty amazing run. But playing that much, we didn’t have a lot of time to work on fundamentals in practice.”

So aside from some much-needed rest and a couple of scrimmages, Mansfield has been focused on honing several aspects of its game during practices.

“We want to get back to playing good man-to-man defense,” said Redding. “We are also putting a lot of emphasis on boxing out. It is important during the tournament to hold teams to one and done. You have to limit the other team’s offensive rebounding.

“We have to make good decisions with the ball. You can get into trouble if you are turning it over. If we limit those things, we have a good chance to win and advance.

“Defensively, we are allowing on an average of 39.5 points per game. If we can keep people in the low 40’s in each game, we have a great chance to win. We also need to continue to make our free throws. We are hitting 68-percent right now. That is the highest it has been in years and we have a lot of kids who can make free throws.”

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