The Rocky River Pirates lost against the Elyria Catholic Panthers back in December of 2023, and unfortunately they wound up with the same result on Saturday. Rocky River was just a bucket shy of victory and fell 53-52 to Elyria Catholic. Rocky River has struggled against Elyria Catholic recently, as their game on Saturday was their eighth consecutive lost matchup.
Several Pirates players turned in solid performances, despite ultimately coming up short. Perhaps the best among those players was Ava Patti, who dropped a double-double on 24 points and 12 rebounds. That was a full 46.2% of Rocky River's points, marking the third time in a row she's earned more than a third of the team's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Elizabeth Lang, who scored ten points along with four blocks.
Elyria Catholic was led to victory by Camara Ogletree and Isabelle Niederst. Ogletree scored 12 points along with six steals and five assists, while Niederst scored 29 points along with seven rebounds and five steals. Niederst is absolutely dominating the steal category: she's posted at least two every time she's taken the court this season. Another player making a difference was Lexi Rodriquez, who scored four points along with six rebounds.
Rocky River has been struggling recently, as they've lost three of their last four games, which put a noticeable dent in their 6-6 record this season. As for Elyria Catholic, they are on a roll lately: they've won eight of their last ten matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 10-4 record this season.
Rocky River will be playing in front of their home fans against North Olmsted at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday. Hopefully North Olmsted focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 25 on Saturday. As for Elyria Catholic, they will head out on the road to take on Brunswick at 7:00 p.m. on Monday.
