“It played out the way that we knew it would,” Cardinals coach Jason Baker said. “They’re a very well-coached team, they’re a tough group and we made a couple big shots in the second half to create a little separation. That’s a really big win for us.”

Neither team was able to hit shots early, but one Mooney basket was able to spark the offense enough for the Cardinals to come out with an 8-3 lead in the first quarter.

The focal point for Mooney this season has been defense and it shows by the way it plays. Baker says strong defensive play gives his team the best chance to get a win on any given day.

“That’s been our M.O. the whole season,” he said. “We’re giving up about 27 points a game. With us it’s not always going to be pretty, but we’ve got some really tough girls that take pride in playing defense and that’s our only shot to win is to do that.”

Staff photo / Brian Yauger Austintown Fitch’s Emma Bartlett attempts to put a shot up but is smothered by Cardinal Mooney’s Gia DiVincenzo.

Leading offensively for Mooney was Caitie Perry who scored 11 points. Alaina Scavina and Gia DiVincenzo each scored eight points.

No matter what Mooney was doing defensively to stop them, the Falcons kept finding ways to get back into the game.

“We knew that they were going to keep coming no matter what happened,” Baker said. “When we needed to, we got to the free-throw line and we finished at the free-throw line. We just kind of found a way to win late.”

According to Falcons coach Dan Schnurrenberger, the Cardinals found a way to win late by outworking his team.

“Our goal for the game tonight was to outwork them for 32 minutes and Mooney just outworked us for 32 minutes so I give them a lot of credit,” he said. “We’ve got to learn from this and we’ve got to get better.”

Staff photo / Brian Yauger Austintown Fitch’s Ashley Mickey, left, drives ahead during Saturday’s game against Cardinal Mooney.

Fitch was able to stall the Mooney offense in the third quarter holding them to four points, but only scored four points themselves in the third.

Emma Bartlett led the Falcons (4-2) with 12 points with seven of them coming in Fitch’s fourth quarter run, that saw the Falcons outscoring Mooney 17-16.

“There was a spurt in the fourth quarter where we played hard and got a couple stops,” Schnurrenberger said. “The ball goes in the hoop and the energy picks up, but on the next possession we gave up an unconsested 3-pointer and at the end Mooney knocked down their foul shots. You’ve got to give them a lot of credit.”

The Cardinals move to 4-1 and they look to get their third league win of the season when they take on the Youngstown East Golden Bears.

“They’re much improved from last year and they’re big and physical,” Baker said. “We’re playing on the road at their place, and we know we’ve got to play well.