The Springfield Tigers will head out on the road to square off against the Mineral Ridge Rams at 7:00 p.m. on Monday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Mineral Ridge will be up against a hot Springfield squad: the team just extended their winning streak to eight. Springfield simply couldn't be stopped on Friday as they easily beat McKinley 50-13. Given the Tigers' advantage in MaxPreps' Ohio basketball rankings (they are ranked 314th, while the Trojans are ranked 749th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Meanwhile, Mineral Ridge was fully in charge on Thursday, breezing past Jackson-Milton 60-27. That's two games straight that the Rams have won by exactly 33 points.
Springfield better focus on containing Sullivan Sandy and Lily Merolillo as the pair were huge in Mineral Ridge's win. Sandy went 7 of 13 en route to 15 points in addition to five assists and five steals, while Merolillo posted 16 points along with seven boards and three steals. Merolillo is on a roll when it comes to steals, as she's now grabbed two or more in the last seven games she's played. Ava Hulett was another key player, putting up eight points and eight rebounds.
Mineral Ridge was working as a unit and finished the game with 16 assists. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Jackson-Milton only racked up seven assists.
Springfield's win was their fourth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 13-7. As for Mineral Ridge, they are also on a roll lately: they've won nine of their last ten matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 15-4 record this season.
Springfield came up short against Mineral Ridge when the teams last played back in January, falling 65-60. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Hulett, who had 21 points in addition to six boards and three steals. Now that Springfield knows the damage she can cause, will they be able to stop her this time? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
