Thursday marked the second doubleheader between the Sacred Heart and Holy Cross basketball programs.
This time, the Hearts and Crusaders matched up at a packed Alumni Hall. The teams all wore red warmup shirts supporting Sacred Heart senior Katie Brown’s push to cure cancer. After that, the teams went at each other. There were division titles on the line, but as with the first matchups on Jan. 15, the games were won by the Sacred Heart boys and Holy Cross girls. The Hearts picked up their 121st straight NVL victory, and the Crusaders survived in overtime.
Here’s a little bit about what happened in each game, starting with the girls:
Holy Cross 65, Sacred Heart 58, OT: This game went much differently than the first meeting, which the Crusaders won handily at Tim McDonald Gymnasium, 66-34, on Jan. 15.
The Hearts had sophomore forward Emily Ronalter back in the lineup, and she paid dividends offensively and on the boards. Sacred Heart fell behind by five points in the first quarter, but got on a run and took a seven-point lead, 30-23, into the halftime break.
Holy Cross was displeased with its first half effort and came out ready to go in the third quarter. After the Hearts held a seven-point lead, 34-27, the Crusaders outscored the hosts by a 17-6 margin to take a 44-40 lead into the fourth quarter.
Sacred Heart appeared to be in trouble when Mya Zaccagnini (18 points) hit an over-the-head three-point play to push Holy Cross’ lead to 51-45 with 5:33 to play in regulation. Two free throws from Cayla Howard (game-high 32 points) at the 5:02 mark extended the advantage to 53-45. From there, however, the Hearts outscored the Crusaders, 10-2, to force overtime. Aamya Rivera (16 points) fouled out with 1:42 to play, but Mikayla Mobley (16 points) ended her own personal five-point run with a bucket to tie the game, 55-55, at the 1:04 mark. Sacred Heart got a final shot to win in regulation, but it was short and wide off the rim, sending the game into overtime.
The Crusaders outscored the Hearts, 10-3, in overtime. Howard and Zaccagnini combined to score all 10 Holy Cross points in the extra session. The Crusaders improved to 16-2 overall (16-1 NVL, 10-0 Brass Division) while the Hearts fell to 14-5 (14-4, 8-2).
Sacred Heart 80, Holy Cross 64: The Hearts used a balanced offense and disruptive defense in the second half to make up for the absence of 7-footer Connor Tierney and pull away from the Crusaders. Tierney was injured in the first half and didn’t return to the game.
Lorenzo Washington (25) and Trevahn Duncan (22) each went over the 20-point mark, and Caleb Sampson added 14 in a very productive night. Sacred Heart moved the ball with purpose on offense and knocked down open looks. On defense, the Hearts were opportunistic and turned Crusader errors into buckets.
It was 42-36 in favor of Sacred Heart at the half. The Hearts stretched their advantage to 58-46 by the end of the third quarter. A trio of 3-pointers, two by Duncan and one by Washington, pushed the lead to 67-48 and forced a Crusader timeout with 6:49 to play in the fourth quarter. It was already too late as Sacred Heart rolled to the win. Sam Henderlite led the Crusaders with 15 points. Arthur Pappas scored 13 while Akili Evans added 11.
Sacred Heart clinched the NVL Brass Division (9-0) and improved to 16-0 overall (15-0 NVL). Holy Cross fell to 13-5 overall (12-4 NVL, 7-3 division).
Caption: Sacred Heart’s Lorenzo Washington looks to make a pass during Thursday night’s game against Holy Cross at Alumni Hall. (Copyright, Sports on CT-69)
Galleries
My photos from the girls game.
My photos from the boys game.
