The Sacred Heart Boys and Girls both played Rossville at Chapman Friday night in the Irish Classic and both squads came away with victories
GIRLS: SACRED HEART 53 ROSSVILLE 44
The Sacred Heart Girls grabbed their first win of the 2019/20 season with a 9 point victory over Rossville.
After being down by 16 points at the end of the first quarter in their previous game against Chapman, Knight head coach Keenan Thompson had emphasized to his team the importance of coming out strong at the opening tip. Nobody took that message to heart more than junior Amber Palen.
Palen knocked down four treys in the first 3:30 of the game as the Knights raced out to a 14-0 lead to start the game. Rossville then began to hit some shots and the score was 19-9 at the end of the 1st quarter. The Bulldawgs would go on a 13 point run starting late in the opening stanza and midway through the 2nd quarter Rossville would take a one point lead.
At that point, the Lady Knights got it going again and led at the half 30-21.
The second half was played completely even with both teams tallying 23 points.
After her red hot start, Palen was only able to add one more field goal to finish the game with 14. Hannah Goetz chipped in 11. The leading scorer in the game was Rossville’s Taylor Morelli who had 16.
Not only was it the Knights’ first win of the season, it was Thompson first win ever as the Sacred Heart Girls head coach.
BOYS: SACRED HEART 71 ROSSVILLE 33
The Sacred Heart Boys used a balanced scoring attack in a blowout win over Rossville. The 4th quarter was played with a running clock.
Sacred Heart jumped out to a 17-4 lead at the end of one and never looked back. The Knight lead was 20 at the half and 33 at the end of three.
Sacred Heart’s Mark Prendergast would lead all scorers with 18, but he had lots of help. Three other Knights scored in double figures. Tate Herrenbruck and Jacob Gormley had 11 each and Ethan Buckner added in 10. Nobody for Rossville scored in double digits. The leading Bulldawg scorer was Kaiden Brown who had 8.
Next up for both the Knight boys and girls, games with the fourth team in the Irish Classic—the Bishop Ward Cyclones. The girls will tip in Chapman at 2 PM on Saturday with the boys to follow.
