Staff Photo / Brian Yauger Springfields Jacey Mullen (21) drives off Ava Carkido of MIneral Ridge during the Tigers 62-23 victory. Mullen had a game high of 16 points.
MINERAL RIDGE – Both Mineral Ridge and Springfield’s girls’ basketball programs mark the dawn of a new era.
Springfield, with a familiar squad from last season, has a new coach on the sidelines. Mineral Ridge, on the other hand, has a new coach and an almost completely new squad.
The Tigers have made a hot start to this new era, breaking a 5-1 record after beating Mineral Ridge on Thursday, 62-23.
Thursday’s game against the Rams was also boosted by the Tigers coming hot out of the gates. Springfield scored 35 points in the first quarter while holding Mineral Ridge at five.
“We came out the way we wanted,” said Springfield coach John Matisi. “Pressure runs on the floor. That’s how we want to play. I thought it was as good a first quarter as we played all year. We want to set the tone and play our pace, and I thought we did a really good job tonight. “
After that first quarter, however, Mineral Ridge stepped up the defensive side of his game. The Rams stepped up their pressure and it paid off to keep the Tigers down to 10, 11 and six points in the next three quarters.
It was not enough to make up the deficit in the first quarter, however, as the Rams fell to 1-5.
New Rams trainer Amy Harrison returns to Mineral Ridge after her volleyball training at McDonald’s.
Harrison was Mineral Ridge’s all-time scorer for years, scoring 1,311 points in the 1990s. Now she’s running the program again, this time from the sidelines. With a new roster, Harrison hopes to give the team much-needed experience as the team continues to grow.
“I’ve seen some good things,” she said. “We are super young; we don’t have much experience. In every game, we’re just looking for something we can improve. Try to eliminate some sales in each game and unpack a little more. Our goal in every game is to gain experience, do our best and see what we can improve. “
This season there is a small power vacuum in the Scarlet Tier of the Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference. With teams like McDonald and Western Reserve, the top two teams in the league in recent years, finishing very good senior classes, now is the time for a team like Springfield to strike and have a very good year.
Springfield has already beaten some very tough teams like Crestview, Brookfield and McDonald. With an experienced and talented squad they have a good chance of doing well in the league, but Matisi just wants the team to keep doing what they do best and drop the cards where they can.
“I think we can compete with anyone in the league,” said Matisi. “I don’t think there has been a great team like McDonald or Reserve in the past few years. Look at us, there’s Waterloo, Jackson-Milton, Reserve, McDonald. I have a feeling we are all fine. Nobody hangs over our heads. I feel like we can come out every night and compete against each other and have a good chance of winning. “
Next up, the Tigers have another league opponent and travel to Lowellville to take on the Rockets. Mineral Ridge meets Western Reserve.
Get the latest news and more in your inbox
