Selflessness, unbreakable bond has Tygers tracking to OCC girls basketball championship glory
MANSFIELD — There are several key factors teams must have in order to achieve championship greatness.
Selflessness, accountability, leadership and an unbreakable bond from within are at the top of every team's wishlist when entering a season, but it isn't very often all of those wishes come true. For the 2023-24 Mansfield Senior girls basketball team, it has those and then some.
TY TYGERS: Zoned in: Tygers overcome stingy Lexington zone, remain perfect in OCC play
The Tygers roll into the home stretch of the season 16-1 on the year and 10-0 in the Ohio Cardinal Conference with a slim one-game margin over West Holmes in the race for the league championship. If the Tygers can take care of business on Thursday at Mount Vernon, it sets up a huge showdown on Saturday afternoon at home against West Holmes where a win would clinch at least a share of the Tygers' second consecutive OCC title.
How the Tygers got to this point is no secret. They have all of the attributes necessary to make a championship team. They are as selfless as they come. No one on the team is averaging more than 11.1 points per game as senior Monetta Hilory tops that list. Sophomore Kyeona Myers adds 9.5, two-time All-Ohio senior Kiersten Bradley is at nine, junior Annaleise Norris averages 7.6 and senior Juleah Windham added seven per game.
And none of them care who is the leading scorer on any given night.
“Every game for us is different,” Norris said. “There are times where one of us isn’t having a good game, but we are able to switch our roles and become the player the team needs us to be. We can all become facilitators or block shots or play great defense. If we all lock in and we all have good games, I feel sorry for whoever we play.”
As she should. The Tygers are averaging 50.5 points per game offensively which isn't a skyrocketing number, but when a team plays defense like Mansfield Senior, it might as well be 100. The Tygers are only allowing 32.4 points per game and have held opponents under that mark 10 times in 17 games. They haven't allowed more than 50 points in all but one game this year and have had eight games of 30 or fewer points given up. They allowed a season-low 11 in a 56-11 win over Sandusky back on the fourth game of the season.
For the year, the Tygers have 233 assists on 304 made field goals and have 233 steals on defense for an average of 13.7 per game. Their willingness to put defense first is the ultimate sign of selflessness.
“My focus was, if you play defense, I don’t care who shoots the ball,” Mansfield Senior coach El Meeks said. “As long as it is a good shot because I believe in each and every one of them. But if you play great defense, the shots on the other end are going to be much easier. I am so happy for them to be where they are at because they have gone through a lot and all of this is about them.”
The accountability part was easy. The Tygers have five seniors on the team and four of whom will end up being four-year lettermen. Hilory and Bradley have been starters since the day they stepped foot on the court as freshmen. Windham was a two-year starter before moving to Pickerington Central during her junior season. She moved back to Mansfield for her senior year and was put right back into the lineup. Senior Dazi Manns has been the team's sixth-man for the last four years and does a little bit of everything for her team.
Mix those players in with three-year starter Norris along with Myers and emerging junior Tasaya Smith and the Tygers have accountability simply due to veteran leadership.
“They are so connected and they love each other,” Meeks said. “They have bought into my philosophies of whoever has the hot hand and is dominating their position, we go to that person. We have so much versatility that anyone can go on a 6-0 run at any time and they know that I don’t like the ball to stick so if they don’t have the opening in two or three dribbles, it is time to pass it off and trust that you will get it back.”
Versatility has been maybe the most important factor in the Tygers' run at a second straight OCC title. They play positionless basketball and thrive at it. Any player on the court can lead a fast break or dominate in the post. They can all shoot it well, the Tygers are knocking down 34% of their three-point attempts and 43% of their total field goals. Norris plays at the top of the full-court press while spending most of her time on the block on offense.
“We knew who we were before we came into the season,” Norris said. “I knew I wasn’t going to be playing the one or anything like that, but we knew what our role was on this team and we took that on with the knowledge of what we were supposed to do. For us to come out and play those roles every game is a big deal.”
A very big deal. Five different players have had season-best scoring nights of 15 points or more and yet no one has scored more than 24 points in a game this season. The best individual scoring night came from Windham when she dropped 24 on Lexington in the first meeting as she drained 6-of-8 three-point attempts. Bradley had 19 in a great win over Strasburg at the Wayne Roller Holiday Showcase for the next-best scoring evening.
“Everyone can do everything,” Windham said. “When one person is off, you know someone is going to pick you up. Everyone can play 1-5 even our guards and post players and we all understand that it is all about the team. When there is some slack to be picked up, everyone wants to be the one to pick it up.
“We didn’t want everyone to stick to one thing. We are all so versatile that we don’t have to just be a post or only be a guard. Playing with that freedom is a huge reason why we are where we are.”
And the fact that there are no egos on the team speaks volumes about the unbreakable bond the Tygers have on the court.
And if there is one player who could have an ego, it is Bradley. She comes in as a two-time All-Ohioan leading her team in scoring in each of her first three seasons and yet, the last thing on her mind is individual glory. Her selflessness and sacrifice may be looked at as the biggest reason the Tygers are in the hunt for another league title and possibly the regular-season wins record for the girls basketball program.
Bradley is scoring nine points per game, but she has evolved her game immensely. She is averaging a team-best 4.3 assists and is third-best with 2.5 steals. She has the most three-pointers on the team with 21 and yet the only thing that matters to her is winning.
“The biggest switch was Juleah coming back and giving us another dynamic scorer,” Bradley said. “It made me realize I don’t have to do things on my own which is something I should have realized a long time ago. I have started trusting my teammates so much when I am not shooting it well. I no longer force shots and instead, I know I can make the extra pass with confidence that my teammates will do good things. I really like the player I am becoming.”
Which is a well-rounded player. Bradley could cement the 2023-24 Tygers as one of the best to ever play at Mansfield Senior if they can win their remaining five games. They would best the 20-0 Tyger team from the early 2000s for the most wins in a regular season, but will have work to do in the tournament to grab that single-season wins mark after a state run back in the day set the bar at 24 wins.
“I told her that in order for us to be successful, she couldn’t be one-dimensional,” Meeks said. “She believed in me and us and it is showing. She no longer takes that first available shot from three and instead, she will fake the shot, drive the lane and dish it to her teammates. I am very proud of her for evolving as a player. I told them all that they could average 25 points on a two-win team and be miserable, but if we are 20-2 and you’re averaging eight or nine and having fun, that’s what it is all about.”
And that is the only thing Bradley is focused on.
“Some people will talk about how I only had this many points, but what they won’t see or talk about is how many assists I had or rebounds I cam down with,” Bradley said. “I really don’t care what people think because I know what type of player I am and how I am helping my team. We have come this far to let personal pride get in the way.”
The Tygers have two key OCC games this week at Mount Vernon on Thursday and at home against West Holmes on Saturday before rounding out the season at Wooster on Feb. 3, at home against Olentangy Orange on Feb. 6 and at New Philadelphia on Feb. 15 in a makeup game from last week.
Then comes tournament time where the Tygers are currently seeded No. 1 in the Division II Old Fort District.
And that is where more championship glory awaits.
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This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Mansfield Senior Tygers looking for Ohio Cardinal Conference girls basketball championship
