Knights Split at Irish Classic

Adam Coulter - Tue 08:34 PM 12/04/2012

The Lady Knights held on for an overtime win while the Sacred Heart boys came up one point short.

The opening two games of the first annual Irish Classic in Chapman didn't disappoint as Sacred Heart matched up against El Dorado in the round-robin basketball tournament.

In the girls game, after a 6-6 tie at the end of the first quarter, the Lady Knights found themselves down 11-8 early in the second quarter. An 8-0 run put Sacred Heart ahead 16-11. A Lady Wildcats three-pointer closed the gap, but Sacred Heart remained on top 16-14 at halftime.

The Lady Knights led by four points several times in the third quarter and took a 25-19 advantage into the final quarter. After Sacred Heart took their biggest lead at 26-19 early in the fourth quarter, the Lady Wildcats began to slowly make a comeback. With the score 30-27 in the final minute of regulation, a three-point bank shot by El Dorado's Andrea Valadez tied the game and sent it into overtime.

The Lady Wildcats scored the first points of overtime to take a 32-30 lead, but the Lady Knights came back with six straight points to lead 36-32. El Dorado scored once more to close the gap to two points but could get no closer as Sacred Heart held on for a 36-34 overtime win.

The Lady Knights improve to 2-0 and were led in scoring by Cara Donley with 14 points, Tracie Thibault with eight and Megan Stein with six.

In the boys game, Sacred Heart and El Dorado traded baskets for an 8-8 tie before the Knights took a 12-8 lead. The score was 12-10 after the opening quarter, but the Wildcats went on an 11-2 run in the second quarter to take a 21-14 lead. Sacred Heart returned the favor and went on an 8-2 run of their own to close the gap to a single point. El Dorado lead 23-22 at halftime.

The teams traded the lead in the third quarter and the Wildcats led 36-35 going into the final period. The Knights' Cory Donley scored his only basket of the game early in the fourth quarter to give Sacred Heart their last lead at 37-36. The Wildcats scored the next nine points to go up 45-37 with 2:08 left in the game. Sacred Heart made one last comeback with an 8-1 run to close the deficit to a single point. The Knights had one last chance to win the game out of a timeout with eight seconds left, but could not convert a basket as the Wildcats held on for a 46-45 win.

Sacred Heart is now 1-1 and was lead in scoring by Dalton Dooley with 13 points off the bench.

The Knights continue in the Irish Classic on Friday against Rossville. The girls tipoff at 3 p.m. and the boys follow at 4:45. Both games will air on 1049classichits.com.