Knights Swept by Buffaloes

Adam Coulter - Sat 12:02 AM 02/16/2013

Lady Knights struggle to score, Sacred Heart boys come back to tie but never take a lead.

Sacred Heart honored its seniors on Friday night in Salina, but fell to Republic County in both games of a doubleheader.

The girls final was 45-23. The boys score was 56-43.

The Lady Knights quickly went up 2-0, but it would be their only lead of the game. Republic County had a 10-6 advantage after the opening quarter.

Sacred Heart scored the first points of the second quarter to close the gap to a single possession, but a 12-3 Lady Buffaloes run to end the first half made the score 22-11.

The Lady Knights were outscored 14-9 in the third quarter and 9-3 in the final period as Republic County went on for a 22-point win.

Cara Donley led the Knights with 11 points and Tracie Thibault added seven more.

Sacred Heart falls to 6-12 overall and 1-9 in the NCAA league standings.

They'll play again on Saturday afternoon at Hutchinson Trinity.

In the first quarter of the boys game, everything was going right for the Buffaloes and everything was going wrong for the Knights. Less than six minutes into the opening period, the Knights had been whistled for ten team fouls. The Buffaloes also took advantage of one call in particular, where Tony Chavez was called for a foul as Jeff Hadacheck made a three-point basket and completed a four-point play. The biggest Republic County lead was 18-4.

Going into the second quarter down 20-11, the Knights continued what would be a 15-5 run to cut the lead to four points at 23-19. At halftime the Buffaloes led 30-23.

Sacred Heart came out of the locker room in the third quarter and Brooks Brown scored the first five points to cut the lead to two. The Knights held the Buffaloes to only two points in the period and had a 32-32 tie score heading into the final quarter.

In the end, Republic County made their free throws and went on for the win. 19 of the 24 Buffaloes points were from foul shots. Trevor Allen, who had a game-high 22 points for the Buffaloes, went 14-for-16 from the line by himself in the fourth quarter.

Cory Donley scored eight points for Sacred Heart and Austin Palen added seven more off the bench.

The Knights fall to 11-8 overall and 7-4 in the NCAA league.

Sacred Heart will play its last doubleheader of the regular season on the road at Ellsworth Tuesday night.

Post a comment Log in or Register to comment