Basketball Recap: Cardinal Mooney Comes Up Short

Cardinal Mooney was not able to break out of their rough patch on Saturday as the team picked up their third straight loss. They took a 57-47 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Doral Academy Firebirds. While losing is never fun, the Cougars can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 40th, while the Firebirds are ranked sixth).

Jadyn Watts

Field Goal Percentage

01/24/26 @ Doral Academy	67%
01/22/26 vs Academy of Central Florida National	56%
01/20/26 vs IMG Academy	31%
01/17/26 vs The Villages Charter	38%
01/16/26 @ Evangelical Christian	27%
+ 18 more games

When it comes to explaining why Cardinal Mooney lost, don't look at Jadyn Watts. Despite the final result, she dropped a double-double with 21 points and ten boards. Thanks to that strong game, Watts now owns an excellent 45.8% shooting accuracy. Jayla Griffin was another key player, putting up ten points and six rebounds.

Doral Academy's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Gabriella O'Reilly led the charge by earning ten points. Those ten points gave O'Reilly a new career-high. The team also got some help courtesy of Stephanie Vega, who posted 14 points.

Cardinal Mooney now has a losing record of 11-12. As for Doral Academy, they are on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five matchups. That's provided a nice bump to their 15-7 record this season.

Cardinal Mooney will look to defend their home court on Tuesday against Booker at 7:00 p.m. As for Doral Academy, they have already played their next game, a 60-51 defeat against Miami Country Day on the 26th.