by The Mentor Cardinals continued their strong season with a 69-41 win over the Brunswick Blue Devils. The Cardinals were led by Nina Rodriguez and Ashlyn McKinney, who combined for 52 points between them.
Rodriguez was hot right out of the gate. She scored 5 of the Cardinals first 7 to help them get out an early lead. A steal and easy layup from McKinney put the Cardinals up 14-5. After the Blue Devils cut the lead to 14-9, turnovers began to doom them. Mentor closed the first quarter with 9 straight points, with 6 of them coming off forced turnovers.
Rodriguez and McKinney kept the scoring going in the second as the Cardinals lead grew to 29-9. Brunswick then put together a solid 8-2 run to make it a 31-17 game. However, Mentor closed the half with 5 straight points by Rodriguez and McKinney to go up 36-17. Rodriguez had 17 points in just the first half.
The 3rd quarter began strong for the Blue Devils. Adaya Collenette and Amya Fluellen helped them shrink the deficit to 11 points. That did not last for long though. The Cardinals physicality and intensity on defense ramped back up and they ended the 3rd quarter on a 7-0 run. They went into the 4th quarter up 49-31.
Mentors continued to pull away in the 4th. Rodriguez kept pouring in points and went on to finish with 29 in the game. McKinney ended up with 23, in one of the best games of her freshman year so far. Mentor head coach James Hrusovsky said after the game that “having a great guard and post player to go with it is a nice combination, but it’s not just Nina and Ashlyn. The other 3 on the floor do certain things to open them up and make our offense that much more dynamic”. The Cardinals improve to 11-1 on the season, while the Blue Devils fall to 7-6.
Players of the Game:
Ashlyn McKinney (23 Pts) and Nina Rodriguez (29 Pts)
