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| Sacred Heart’s Treasure Coleman led all scorers with 26 points in Monday’s NVL semifinal. (Copyright, Sports on CT-69) |
No. 4 Sacred Heart ran away with a 54-42 win over No. 1 Holy Cross in the NVL girls basketball tournament semifinals on Monday night at Kennedy High School.
It was a full house inside Jack Taglia Gymnasium, and those supporting the Maroon and Gold were treated to a great performance by the Hearts. Sacred Heart’s effort began and ended with its three-headed attack of Treasure Coleman (game-high 26 points), Aamya Rivera (12) and Mikayla Mobley (11). The trio led the offense, and they harassed the guards of the Crusaders.
Inside, it was a team effort against Holy Cross standouts Aiyana Ward (14 points) and Meah Austin (9). The Crusaders couldn’t get their outside shots to fall, so once the Hearts established a nice lead, they packed their zone deep into the paint. Hayley Tucker, Jenna Madigan, Trista Caron and Nevaeh Jones all took turns defending Ward and Austin.
Any comeback effort for Holy Cross was delivered a major blow when Austin had to leave the game with 7:11 left in the fourth quarter with what appeared to be a shoulder injury. Austin was down for several minutes and was slowly helped off the court. Hopefully the senior forward will be OK.
Sacred Heart faces Naugatuck on Wednesday night in a matchup of first-time NVL finalists. That game is also at Kennedy.
For a full recap of the Sacred Heart-Holy Cross semifinal, read my story on The Zone website.
Joe Palladino took video for The Zone. Go here to see that video.
And finally, I took photos during the game. You can view those here.
