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Rams’ rally falls short

Mineral Ridge beaten by Springfield

Correspondent photo / Robert Hayes — Alexa Harkins, center, splits two Springfield defenders on the way to the basket Monday night.

NEW MIDDLETOWN — Trailing 43-30 with 6:48 left in the fourth quarter, the Mineral Ridge Rams went on a 16-4 run over a period of four minutes to get to within a point, 47-46, with 2:10 left in the game Monday night at Springfield.

However, the Rams failed to score from that point, as Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference rival Springfield scored the final seven points of the game to close out a 54-46 win.

Rams (3-7) coach Matthew Cluse said his team needs to be more aggressive, so their opponents don’t build a big lead.

“They just played passive and not as aggressive as we should be playing,” he said. “Whether we’re conserving energy or just not in shape, we play passive in the third quarter.

“We let them build a lead, and then we play better when our backs are against a wall. Until we learn to do that throughout the game, we’re going to continue to lose.”

Correspondent photo / Robert Hayes — Morgan Sigley of Mineral Ridge shoots a 3-pointer during the Rams’ 54-46 loss to the Tigers at Springfield High School.

Springfield coach James Schuler is in his 10th season at the helm of the Tigers’ girls basketball program and Monday’s victory marked the 100th career win for Schuler.

“It’s pretty cool,” he said. “I don’t look too much into that whole thing, it’s all about the team and what they do.

“Without them, I couldn’t get to that point, so it’s a neat thing to say, but I’m more focused on how we’re going to be toward the end of the season, and if we’re tournament ready. Can make a little run in the tournament, that’s the most important thing?”

Springfield has won back-to-back games for the first time this season to improve their record to 5-7.

“I thought it was definitely a battle.” Schuler said “I think there were ebbs and flows to the game, we went on a few runs, they went on a few runs. It was kind of back-and-forth in that way.

“We always seem to play each other tough, no matter what place we play. They did a good job of pressing us and speeding us up a little bit, and I think we did too at the beginning. They started breaking it, and we kind of backed off and went a different route defensively, and I think that was effective for us.”

Springfield held a 23-20 lead at halftime, but increased the lead to eight at 36-28 by the end of the third quarter.

Three Tigers ended in double figures, led by Kylee Kosek, who had 13 points.

Abby Joseph, who also scored 13 points for the Tigers, said that their consecutive wins can give them momentum going into their next contest against Lowellville.

“I think it’ll help us to get some wins under our belt, and just take that and make the extra pass and make sure we do all the same stuff we did the game before, and just keep going on into the next game.”

Mineral Ridge had three players in double figures, Fran Kesner, who had 13, and Alexa Harkins and Candice Miller, who added 10 points each.

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