Basketball Game Preview: Woodlawn Cardinals vs. Fairfield Mules

The Woodlawn Cardinals and the Fairfield Mules will round out the year against one another at at 10:00 a.m. on Friday. The two teams are sauntering into the matchup backed by comfortable wins in their prior games.

It was a proper cat-fight when Woodlawn took on Farina South Central on Monday. Woodlawn claimed a resounding 62-32 victory over Farina South Central. Given the Cardinals' advantage in MaxPreps' Illinois basketball rankings (they are ranked 313th, while the Cougars are ranked 638th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Woodlawn relied on the efforts of Sophia Skinner, who went 10 of 23 en route to 23 points along with eight boards and three steals, and Rylie Hockett, who posted 19 points in addition to eight rebounds and five steals. Hockett is on a roll when it comes to steals, as she's now grabbed two or more in the last six games she's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Andrea Kibler, who had seven points and five steals.

Meanwhile, Fairfield made easy work of Casey-Westfield on Friday and carried off a 42-20 win.

Fairfield is on a roll lately: they've won three of their last four games, which provided a massive bump to their 4-8 record this season. The wins came thanks to their defensive effort, having only surrendered 27.3 points per game. As for Woodlawn, they pushed their record up to 7-5 with the victory, which was their fourth straight on the road.

Woodlawn came up short against Fairfield in their previous meeting back in December of 2019, falling 44-35. Can Woodlawn avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.