MANSFIELD — Mansfield Senior coach El Meeks laughed Tuesday night when asked about All-Ohio senior Kiersten Bradley only scoring five points in a season-opening 58-32 win over Ashland.
“That’s the thing. We want her to keep struggling,” Meeks said with a smile.
“Reason being, we don’t want everybody when they get the ball (saying), ‘Let’s just look for Kiersten.’
“Everybody has talent on this team. Kirsten knows it’s going to come. What we loved about it is she was smiling. She was cheering everybody else on. That’s going to help us. Kiersten is going to be OK. She is going to find it,” Meeks said.
Bradley was just one of many Tygers smiling on the court and around Pete Henry Gymnasium as the experienced, talented and defending Ohio Cardinal Conference champions opened the new season in a big way.
Mansfield Senior, in Meeks’ first season running a program he has been around for the last few years, jumped out quickly on the young Arrows, leading 14-6 after one quarter and 28-14 by halftime.
Even with Bradley, who averaged 13 points per game last year, connecting on just one of the four shots she attempted, Mansfield Senior showed balance with three players in double figures.
Junior forward Annaleise Norris showed she is ready to be an offensive force after leading the Tygers in interior defense and rebounding last year. She led Mansfield Senior with 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting and also pulled down nine rebounds.
Meeks, who coached the JV team last year, credited assistant coach Sierra Hardin with helping convince Norris her time has come on offense.
“We told (Norris) if you don’t shoot the ball, you’re sitting on the bench,” he said with another laugh.
“If she doesn’t get going, how are Kiersten and Kyeona (Myers) going to get going? She is the X-factor. We changed things up to complement her because we were a perimeter team and now, everyone is guarding us outside (and) leaving things open for Anna,” Meeks said.
“I assign the (assistant) coaches to different players and Coach C has owned that and has made Anna a better player. Coach C is responsible for her development this year with the dribbling, with the passing. (Norris) is finishing more around the basket. That’s a testament to Coach C,” Meeks said.
Myers, a sophomore, added 10 points for the Tygers. Senior Monetta Hilory also scored 10.
For Ashland coach Renee Holt, it was another learning opportunity for a young team that lost its season opener Friday to Norwalk in a non-league game, 56-46.
“Mansfield Senior is a senior-led group with three of the best players in Richland County and we are starting two freshmen, two sophomores and a senior so we have a lot to learn and a lot of growing to do,” Holt said.
“We were completely different than we were against Norwalk. I always say you learn a lot more from a loss than a win and we will take everything we learned tonight and take that step in our learning process,” the former Ashland University and Crestview High School star guard said.
“I thought tonight when we made those crispy passes on a rope, we saw the open looks like we were preaching about all game. We keep pounding the details and the focus. Like I said, we’re young,” Holt said.
Freshman Kennedy Lacey (5-11) had 12 points for Ashland. Sophomore Madison Hoffman added eight. Sophomore Camryn Cox (6-1) had seven points and nine rebounds.
