Sacred Heart opened NCAA league play with a doubleheader split at Russell Tuesday night.

In the girls game, Russell opened on a 6-0 run and never trailed. Sacred Heart was within two points at 8-6, but Russell answered with an 11-1 run. The Lady Broncos led 12-6 after the opening quarter and 19-7 in the second quarter. The Lady Knights pulled to within single digits, but still trailed 22-14 at halftime.

Russell then outscored Sacred Heart 15-6 in the third quarter to blow the game open. With the score 40-20 early in the fourth quarter, Russell had its biggest lead of the game and went on for a 51-30 win. Both teams are now 4-1.

Sacred Heart was led in scoring by Cara Donley's 15 points. Haley Rapp added nine more in her first start of the season. Russell's Madison Beagley led all scorers with 29 points and Janna Schulte scored 15.

In the boys game, 14 Knights players saw playing time and 13 of them scored. Sacred Heart scored 20 points in each of first two quarters, leading 20-8 after the opening quarter and 40-17 at halftime. Sacred Heart didn't allow another point until the fourth quarter. The Knights went ahead 53-17 after three quarters, led by as many as 41 points, and went on for a 65-26 win. The Knights are now 3-2 while Russell falls to 0-5.

Sacred Heart's Dalton Dooley was the only double-figure scorer in the game with ten points. Cory Donley and Tate Richards had eight apiece and Colton Von Lintel scored seven off the bench.

The Knights will play their first home games of the season this Friday against Minneapolis. Both games can be heard on Classic Hits 104.9.