Basketball Game Preview: Newark Catholic Green Wave vs. Granville Blue Aces

The Newark Catholic Green Wave will head out on the road to take on the Granville Blue Aces at 7:15 p.m. on Thursday. Both come into the matchup bolstered by wins in their previous matches.

Newark Catholic will head into Friday's game hoping to keep the good times rolling: they proved they can win big on Wednesday (they won by 23) and on Friday they proved they can win the close ones too. They narrowly escaped with a victory as the squad sidled past Northridge 46-44. The score was all tied up 23-23 at the break, but the Green Wave were the better team in the second half.

Sophie Chard Peloquin continued her habit of posting crazy stat lines, going 7 for 13 en route to 23 points in addition to seven rebounds and four blocks. That's the most blocks she has posted since back in March of 2024. Another player making a difference was Leah Caudill, who went 8 of 13 on her way to 16 points and eight boards.

Meanwhile, Granville came tearing into Saturday's contest with five straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 16.6 points) and they left with even more momentum. They came out on top against the Panthers by a score of 27-15. Given the Blue Aces' advantage in MaxPreps' Ohio basketball rankings (they are ranked 125th, while the Panthers are ranked 606th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Newark Catholic has also been performing incredibly well recently as they've won eight of their last nine matchups, which provided a massive bump to their 13-6 record this season. As for Granville, their win was their third straight at home, which pushed their record up to 18-2.

Newark Catholic beat Granville 57-49 in their previous matchup back in January of 2024. The rematch might be a little tougher for Newark Catholic since the team won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.