Northridge has enjoyed the comforts of home their last two games, but now they'll head out on the road. They will face off against the Zanesville Blue Devils at 6:45 p.m. on Friday. Hopefully Northridge focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 21 on Tuesday.
Northridge struggled with offensive rebounds on Tuesday (Newark Catholic had eight more) and sadly the final score reflected it. Northridge lost to Newark Catholic at home by a decisive 54-40 margin. While losing is never fun, Northridge can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Ohio basketball rankings (they are ranked 553rd, while Newark Catholic is ranked 61st).
Northridge's defeat shouldn't obscure the performances of Ava Travis, who scored 15 points along with six rebounds, and Ruby Cermak who scored 13 points along with five rebounds. The contest was Travis' seventh in a row with at least ten points.
Meanwhile, Zanesville's recent rough patch got a bit rougher on Tuesday after their third straight loss. They were outmatched by Watkins Memorial on the road and fell 52-25. Zanesville was in a tough position after the first half, with the score already sitting at 32-11.
Ayawna Gladden was Zanesville's leading scorer, having posted seven points.
Lakeyah Butcher held things down on the boards with six rebounds. She took the lead distributing the ball, coming up with two assists.
Northridge's defeat dropped their record down to 2-5. As for Zanesville, they bumped their record down to 1-6 with that loss, which was their third straight on the road.
Keep an eye on the arc in Friday's contest: Northridge have made nailing deep shots look easy this year this season, having only averaged 4.1 threes per game. It's a different story for Zanesville, though, as they've been averaging only 2 threes per game. Given Northridge's sizeable advantage in that area, Zanesville will need to find a way to close that gap.
Northridge couldn't quite finish off Zanesville when the teams last played back in December of 2022 and fell 44-41. Can Northridge avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
