MOONEY MAKES A CONFERENCE STATEMENT
By Ty Bartell
YOUNGSTOWN OH- For the second time this season, two members of the Steel Valley Conference (SVC) met on the girls side when The Chaney Cowgirls visited The Cardinal Mooney Cardinals on Thursday evening. The first meeting between the two programs was a thriller to say the least! The Cowgirls would come away victorious in the first meeting back on December, 9th at Chaney by a slim score of 43-41, meaning Mooney had revenge on their minds.
With the home crowd behind them, The Cardinals jumped ahead early. Playing good defense and turning that into transitional offensive opportunities, The Cards were able to manage a double-digit lead after a quarter of play at 14-4 over Chaney. The second quarter was a lot more even in terms of scoring; however, despite a lower scoring quarter, Mooney managed to be a bucket better in the second at 9-7 to ultimately take a 23-11 advantage into the halftime locker room!
Mooney star scorer, Sophia Diorio took over the game in the third quarter! Coming out of the half, Diorio scored 10 of Mooney’s 14 team points in the third, while completing all six of her free-throw attempts in the period, as The Cardinals outscored The Cowgirls 14-5 in the third to hold a commanding 37-16 edge heading into the fourth quarter. Not done there, Mooney capped off their statement to their west side rivals with a 17-3 fourth to emphatically win the ball game by a final of 54-19! A drastically different outcome from the previous meeting between the two schools, as Mooney obtained their revenge at home to even the season series up at a game a piece.
Sophia Diorio led the way for The Cardinals, putting up 23 points of offense while simultaneously playing some stifling defense all night long! Samantha Rotunno was also impactful in the game with her 14 points coming almost primarily in the paint, taking the physicality that The Cowgirls bring and matching it on the offensive side! Both Diorio and Rotunno earned Player of the Game honors and their postgame interviews along with Coach Diorio’s can be found below! Talecia Huff was also a key contributor for The Cardinals, scoring 8 points in the contest. Chaney was led by Ja’Ziya Anderson who finished with 10 points followed by Alyssa Brown who had 6 points.
The win for Mooney (4-7)(1-2) now sets them up with another conference opponent when they host The East Golden Bears (4-5)(0-2) on Monday, December 15th at Cardinal Mooney High School. For Chaney (9-4)(2-2) they will look to get back on the winning side when they travel to the Fieldhouse against Struthers (2-9) on Saturday, December 13th with a noon tip-off. Stay updated with SVC basketball all season long with live games, scores, stats, stories and more on YSN!
