The 2025-2026 Mentor Girl’s Basketball season came to an end on Saturday, March 7th, which concluded an impressive and historical season. They unfortunately came up short in the regional finals to a 1-seed Wadsworth team, but the morale is still high after their achievements this season. The girls finished undefeated in the conference, with a clean 14-0 record, which contributed to a larger 24-2 record overall. Before March 7th, the Cards had won 23 straight games, dominating their opponents left and right, securing the title of both GCC and District Champs.
The players and coaches earned their accolades every challenging step of the way, as Mentor High School’s girls basketball has not reached the regionals since 2013. In addition to reaching the regional finals for the first time in 13 years, the last time the Mentor girl’s basketball team had a record that included less than five losses was the 2015-2016 season when Coach Steve Thompson was leading the girls basketball team. Coach James Hrusovsky led his best season yet, as this year’s Mentor team ranked 38th in the state of Ohio in girls basketball, and a state division one rank of 11.
While Coach Hrusovsky has done an excellent job with developing these players and setting a standard of high achievement, the players have shown they are some of the best in the state as well. The team has 1659 points forced, and 998 points allowed, which, over 26 games, is an impressive average score per game of 63-38. Success is a team effort, as Mentor has proved time and time again, but some players command this team in different ways. Senior Nina Rodriguez leads the team in PPG, with 17.7, whereas Freshman Ashlyn McKinney has come onto the scene in her first high school season leading the team in FG % with 51%, and RPG, with 9.6. The Mentor Cardinals were mentioned quite a few times in the Greater Cleveland Conference Awards, with many players and coaches seeing recognition, including the following:
Nina Rodriguez – Player of the Year
Keira Coleman – All-Conference
Ashlyn McKinney – All-Conference
Lyla Willis – All-Conference
Addi Keeper – Honorable Mention
Hayley McClintock – Honorable Mention
James Hrusovsky – Coach of The Year
The 2nd seeded Mentor High School Girl’s Basketball team started their playoff journey in the District Semifinals against 16th seeded Lorain, which saw a commanding 68-30 win. Mentor advanced to the District Final against #10 Whitmer, beating them 55-39. In the regional semifinal, Mentor faced a McKinley team with 10 losses on the season, and handed them their 11th to advance to the regional final. The top-seeded Wadsworth and 2-seed Mentor faced off, with Wadsworth defeating Mentor 64-55. While it was not how Mentor wanted their season to end, this 2025-2026 team has many accomplishments to look back on and be proud of.
Cardinal Nation was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to talk with Coach Hrusovsky about the season and future expectations:
Cardinal Nation: What were the greatest strengths you saw from the team?
Coach Hrusovsky: Our team’s greatest strength was our connectiveness and willingness to do what we needed to win. Our girls understood their role and thrived.
Cardinal Nation: If you had to describe this past season in one word, would that word be?
Coach Hrusovsky: Historic. We won the most regular season games in program history with 21 wins, tied the most wins in a season with 24 wins, finished number 1 in the Cleveland.com Top 25, went 14-0 in Conference play, went to the regional finals for the first time since 2008-09.
Cardinal Nation: What can you say about your aspirations for next year?
Coach Hrusovsky: We have all but Nina Rodriguez (senior) coming back and we look to build on our success from this past season. We want to be in position to make a State Final Four run come next March.
Thank you Coach Hrusovsky! The future looks bright for the Mentor Girls Basketball team, and the Mentor community can’t wait for the 2026-2027 season!
For more pictures, check out Kylie Sheehan’s photo gallery.
