Padua Franciscan is 1-7 against St. Joseph Academy since January of 2016 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Saturday. The Padua Franciscan Bruins' road trip will continue as they head out to face the St. Joseph Academy Jaguars at 1:00 p.m. on December 16th. Hopefully Padua Franciscan focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 26 on Monday.
Last Monday, Padua Franciscan was within striking distance but couldn't close the gap as they fell 43-39 to Walsh Jesuit. While losing is never fun, Padua Franciscan can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Ohio basketball rankings (they are ranked 551st, while Walsh Jesuit is ranked 275th).
Even though the team lost, they still had their share of impressive performances. One of the most dominant came from Ashley Rypiak, who scored 14 points along with six rebounds and four steals. Those 14 points set a new season-high mark for she. The team also got some help courtesy of Ella Figliano, who scored eight points.
Meanwhile, St. Joseph Academy beat Austintown-Fitch 57-44 on Monday. The victory made it back-to-back wins for St. Joseph Academy.
Padua Franciscan's defeat was their fourth straight on the road dating back to last season, which bumped their record down to 1-4. As for St. Joseph Academy, they now have a winning record of 3-2.
Padua Franciscan came up short against St. Joseph Academy in their previous meeting back in December of 2022, falling 52-39. Can Padua Franciscan avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
