JUNIOR HIGH LADY BEARCATS WIN BACK AND FORTH GAME OVER MANSFIELD

The Booneville Junior High Lady Bearcats built a seven point third quarter lead, fell behind by four when Mansfield went on an 11-0 run, then scored the next seven points and survived the Lady Tigers 24-22 Thursday night at Bearcat Gymnasium.

Torie Nobles, who would lead the Lady Bearcats with 9 points ,was fouled on a shot she made with :04 to play in the first half and converted the and-one opportunity for a 12-8 lead at the break.

Nobles also opened the second half scoring and after a Lady Tiger free throw Chole Walker scored on assist from Alycin Pearcy, who was playing her first game since December, and it was 16-9.

Walker scored 7 points in the game.

From there Mansfield scored 11 straight to open a 20-16 lead going to the final quarter.

Nobles started the fourth quarter scoring with a free throw and Walker twice fed Evelyn Rogers for baskets over 51 seconds and the Lady Bearcats were in front 21-20 with 1:28 remaining.

Nobles scored with 1:12 to go for a 23-20 lead but Mansfield got a long two point basket with 53 seconds remaining to get within 23-22.

After three fouls to force free throws, Nobles hit one of two with 12.1 second to go to set the eventual final.

Bearcats 36 Mansfield 20

Other than a tie at 2-2 the Bearcats led throughout.

Twice in the first half the lead would be nine, once at 16-7 on a basket by Drake Brackney, and again at 18-9 on one by Ayden Rhinehart.

Mansfield cut it to 18-11 before halftime but the Bearcats scored 10 straight to start the second half to lead 28-11 on a Cooper Smithson basket 32 seconds before the third quarter ended.

Mansfield got a free throw nine seconds later and scored from the floor with 5:54 to go to cut it to 28-14.

Content to run clock the Bearcats kept the ball until there were less than four minutes to play and Mansfield had finally forced free throws.

Edwin Garcia hit 3-of-4 attempts before Mansfield scored twice to get within 31-18 with 3:04 to go, which would be as close as it would get.

Brackeny led the Bearcats with 11 points and both Garcia and Hayden Daniel scored 5.

The junior high teams are scheduled to open play in the Opal Pistole Tournament at County Line on Saturday with the boys playing Pleasant View at 3 p.m. and the girls facing Mountainburg at 4. Both teams are also schedule to play at Lamar on Monday.

Seventh Grade

The seventh Grade Lady Bearcats started the evening with a convincing 29-12 win over the Lady Tigers.

It was 25-6 by halftime as Sophie Shaffer had already scored 10 points and Clara Diffee 5.

Tatum Brackney would score the remaining 4 Lady Bearcat points and finish with 8.

The boys game would end in a tie at 17-17 – the teams also played to a standstill in November – and Mansfield would take an 18-17 win with a sudden death free throw on the first extra possession of overtime.

Breckyn Denton scored 7 points to lead the Bearcats and Colt Whitehouse also had two baskets.

The seventh grade teams are scheduled to play in a jamboree in Mansfield on Saturday with both teams playing Cedarville and Lavaca in succession beginning at 9:30 a.m. The teams are also scheduled to play in Lamar on Monday.