Basketball Game Preview: Ursuline Fighting Irish vs. West Branch Warriors

The Ursuline Fighting Irish will venture away from home to challenge the West Branch Warriors at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday. Each of these teams will be fighting to keep a win streak alive as Ursuline comes in on three and West Branch on seven.

Last Wednesday, Ursuline earned a 47-40 victory over East.

Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask West Branch). They claimed a resounding 67-4 win over Alliance. Given the Warriors' advantage in MaxPreps' Ohio basketball rankings (they are ranked 99th, while the Aviators are ranked 719th), the result on Wednesday wasn't entirely unexpected.

West Branch's victory was their fifth straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 13-1. Those victories came thanks to their defensive effort, having only surrendered 21.6 points per game. As for Ursuline, their win bumped their record up to 4-10.

Ursuline ended up a good deal behind West Branch when the teams last played back in December of 2023, losing 57-42. Can Ursuline avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.