Cardinal Mooney has been on the road for two straight, but on Thursday they'll finally head home. They will finish 2023 at home by hosting the Springfield Tigers at 1:00 p.m. Cardinal Mooney will have to bring their A-game into this one, as they are staring down a pretty big deficit in the MaxPreps Ohio Rankings (they are ranked 514th, while Springfield is ranked 190th).
Last Thursday, Cardinal Mooney was within striking distance but couldn't close the gap as they fell 51-45 to Canton Central Catholic.
Meanwhile, Springfield entered their tilt with Mineral Ridge with four consecutive wins but they'll enter their next game with five. Springfield snuck past Mineral Ridge with a 54-49 win on Thursday.
It was another big night for Jameka Brungard, who dropped a double-double on 22 points and 22 rebounds. That makes it five consecutive games in which she has scored at least 25% of Springfield's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Mariana Tuscano, who scored 13 points along with five steals.
Cardinal Mooney's loss dropped their record down to 1-5. As for Springfield, their win was their third straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 7-2.
Cardinal Mooney came up short against Springfield in their previous meeting back in February of 2022, falling 56-45. Thankfully for Cardinal Mooney, Jacey Mullen (who scored 29 points along with nine rebounds and five steals) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? There's only one way to find out.
