By TYLER HENRY
Lead Sportswriter - Salina Post
The Sacred Heart basketball teams continued to roll through the NCAA, sweeping Ellsworth on Thursday in a doubleheader that saw the Knights claim another league title.
Girls: Sacred Heart 53, Ellsworth 39
Ellsworth kept this game interesting through three quarters, but lockdown defense in the fourth quarter allowed Sacred Heart to pull away for a comfortable victory.
The Lady Knights saw a five-point first-quarter lead cut down to just one at the halftime break, but got their three-point shooting going in the third, knocking down four triples to push the advantage back to six.
In the fourth, Sacred Heart stifled Ellsworth, holding them to just three made field goals to pull away, all without sending the Lady Bearcats to the free throw line once.
Emmy Lee was the star of the show, scoring a game-high 21 points off the bench, complementing big nights from Addie Lee (15), and Skylar Douglas (11).
Lainey Peschka led the charge for the Lady Bearcats with 11 points on the evening.
With this win, Sacred Heart improves to 18-4 overall, and 9-2 in league play, while Ellsworth slides to 12-6 and 7-5 respectively.
Boys: Sacred Heart 51, Ellsworth 47
On the boys' side, the Bearcats kept things closer than many anticipated, giving the Knights a late scare on a night where sole possession of a league title was on the table.
Things went down to the wire but a big night from Will Tuttle allowed Sacred Heart to hold on and claim another NCAA title, now out of reach of Beloit in the standings.
Sacred Heart held a four-point lead at the end of the first quarter but a surging Bearcat squad outscored the Knights 14-6 in the second to take a four-point lead into the locker room.
The Knights got back on top in the third and had just enough gas in the tank to pull themselves over the finish line in a four-point victory.
Will Tuttle led the way for Sacred Heart with 20 points, and was the only Knight in double digits in this game.
That proved more than enough to combat solid evenings from Jace Thomasson (16) and Tucker Goss (11) for the Bearcats.
The Knights are now 20-2 overall, and sit atop the league at 11-0 in NCAA play while Ellsworth falls to 4-14 and 2-10 respectively.
You can watch both of these games on-demand any time below.