Middle School Hornets top Mansfield

By: Ed Weaver  /  February 7, 2016

The Wellsboro Middle School Basketball teams improved the 2-0 after wins over Mansfield on Saturday, February 6.

Girls - Wellsboro 21, Mansfield 17

Wellsboro had a 6-0 lead after the first quarter, but then had foul trouble and led 10-4 at the half. The Lady Hornets got into more foul trouble in the third and led 11-5 after three. Mansfield's Mariah Berguson (game high 12 points) drained three three-pointers in the fourth, but the girls closed out the game with Cathryn Brought making 4-of-4 free throws in the closing minutes to ice the game.

Cathryn Brought had seven points, four rebounds, and four steals and was 5-of-6 at the line, Jaime Palmer had eight points, five rebounds, four steals and two assists, and Kaylee Mengee, Lauren Singer, and Liza Manning (10 rebounds) each had two points.

"We had an intense and exciting game against Mansfield," said head coach Darrell Morris. "We didn't shoot well at all, we had foul trouble, we had girls who got a little banged up during the game, but our girls stuck with it and closed out the game. This experience is so valuable for our team.

"Liza Manning played a great game and really controlled the paint defensively, pulling down 10 rebounds. Cathryn Brought calmly hit 4-of-4 free throws in the closing minutes, and her composure under pressure really shows why she is one of our leaders.  Players look to their leaders in these situations and she really answered the call. All of our girls really played hard and that made up for our shooting struggles."

The Lady Hornet B-team also won 22-10 on the day. Breighanna Kemp had eight points, Angela DeBockler had six points, and Georgia Macensky, Emma Palmer, Chelsie English, and Bailey Monks all had two points.

Boys - Wellsboro 31, Mansfield 14

The Middle School boys also picked up a win by holding their second opponent of the year to under 20 points. Wellsboro scored eight in the first, 10 in the second, eight in the third, and closed out with five in the fourth. Joseph Grab led the Hornets with 13 points for the game and Billy Lechler finished with eight.

"I thought we had a big improvement from our first game defensively which is exciting as a coach," said Jason Greenfield. "We missed a lot of easy shots but if our defense continues to get better the easy shots will fix itself. All in all it was a great team win."

The Hornet B-team also won their second game of the day with a 22-15 win. Alex Burrell led the team with eight points and Will Poirier had six.

Both teams will be back in action on Tuesday, February 9 as they host Cowanesque Valley.