Basketball Game Preview: Mentor Cardinals vs. Cleveland Heights Tigers

A feisty cat fight will be fought when the Mentor Cardinals duke it out with the Cleveland Heights Tigers at 6:15 p.m. on Friday... Both come into the match bolstered by wins in their previous matches.

Mentor is headed into the contest having just posted their closest victory since November 30th on Monday. They sure made it a nail-biter, but they managed to escape with a 50-47 win over St. Joseph Academy. The victory made it back-to-back wins for the Cardinals.

Meanwhile, you're bound to get a positive result if you outscore your opponent every quarter, and that's exactly how it played out for Cleveland Heights on Saturday. Given that consistent dominance, it should come as no surprise that they blew John Marshall out of the water with a 52-11 final score. That 41 point margin sets a new team best for the Tigers this season.

Cleveland Heights' win came from a few key players Mentor will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Robbie Caldwell, who went 8 of 12 en route to 16 points along with six steals and five boards. Those six steals gave her a new career-high. The team also got some help courtesy of Dayvon Evans, who went 6 of 8 on her way to 14 points.

Cleveland Heights smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 16 offensive rebounds. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least eight offensive boards in four consecutive games.

Cleveland Heights is on a roll lately: they've won six of their last seven matches, which provided a nice bump to their 8-3 record this season. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 53.6 points per game. As for Mentor, their victory bumped their record up to 8-3.

Mentor strolled past Cleveland Heights in their previous meeting back in February by a score of 43-24. Will Mentor repeat their success, or does Cleveland Heights have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.