by The Strongsville Mustangs and the Saint Joseph Academy Jaguars matched up this Wednesday at the Jaguars home court at Saint Joseph Academy. Both teams were looking to continue to build upon their own momentum. Mustangs came into this game at 12-1, on a 4-game winning streak while beating almost every team pretty convincingly. The Jaguars came into this game at 8-5 on a 3-game winning streak with 2 monstrous back to back wins vs Hathaway Brown and Trinity. It was the battle of the streaks and only one team could extend.
This game started off with great action from the jump. Both teams were hustling, not giving each other any time to rest. The Mustangs were tenacious on the offensive boards and created a lot of second, third fourth and fifth opportunities for their team, especially in the first quarter. The Jaguars came out the gate and attacked Strongsville’s 2-3 zone by shooting the three ball- most in part due to #4, Ruth Becker who had 9 quick points in the first.
The Jaguars had an interesting approach to their defensive strategy. They opted to run a half court press out of almost every opposing inbound and switching back and forth from man to zone which threw Strongsville off until late in the second quarter. The Jaguars took the physical, defense to offense approach by going into man to man coverage and erased a 9-point lead. The half ended at 27-21 Jaguars in control, in a heated battle.
The 2nd half started with fast pace offense from both teams. Strongsville began running pick & roll a lot more to take advantage of as many shooting opportunities as they could get and it worked. Mustangs gained the lead with some stellar shooting and scoring from #20(Kennedi Neale), #34(Sydney Bass), and #3(Sidney Butera) who controlled the offense a great deal. Sidney looked extremely poised and locked in when running the offense. The man to man defense from the Mustangs rattled the Jaguars. The Mustangs got off to their own 10-point lead at the end of the third quarter, putting the pressure on The Jags to adjust. Strongsville simply turned the heat up in the third quarter from three which opened up lane opportunities as well. I could hear Saint Joseph’s coach yelling “NO HELP” at one point in the third quarter because of the hot shooting from the Mustangs.
The fourth quarter was a battle of the adjustments, both teams in their final forms. The Jaguars started to take advantage of mismatches, going more 1v1, drive and kick actions. They also worked in some offball screens to get easy cuts and it worked as they chipped away at the lead. The Mustangs were still poised to hold that lead, slowing the pace down and drawing fouls to ensure the Jaguars never got any clear momentum.
The Mustangs extend their record to 13-1 as the Jaguars streak is ended and their record falls to 8-6 in a hard fought battle. Basketball is a game of runs and this game personified that. The third quarter swing is what shaped the turnout of this game with a 30-14 quarter. Sidney Bass drained multiple threes while Sydney Butera ran the 2-person game with Bass and opened multiple scoring chances from the midrange and the three. The star of the game was Kennedi Neale who was consistent every single quarter and finished the game with 20 points.
The final score of the game was 60-51, again with Strongsville taking the win. Both teams move on to their next matchup, putting this one behind them. The Jaguars will make adjustments and look to get back on the winning track.
