By TYLER HENRY
Lead Sportswriter - Salina Post
The Sacred Heart basketball teams continued their domination of the NCAA on Friday night in a doubleheader sweep of Minneapolis on the road.
Girls: Salina South 51, Maize 45
The Lady Cougars used strong free-throw shooting down the stretch and a big night for the starting five to pull away late and avenge a previous loss to the Maize Lady Eagles.
South held a 15-8 lead at the end of the first quarter, but a 9-0 Maize run quickly undid that good work, allowing the Lady Eagles to hold a three-point edge at the intermission.
Much of that damage was done by freshman phenom Heidi Williams, who dropped 12 points in the second quarter alone to help get her squad back out in front.
In the third quarter, the Lady Cougar defense turned up the heat, holding Williams to just three points, and Maize to just five, to reclaim a one-point advantage.
The final frame started close but South converted 16 free throws into 12 points, pulling away for a 51-45 victory.
The starting five accounted for all but two of the Cougar’s 51 points, with Paityn Fritz (19), Brooklyn Jordan (10), and Kyla Hamel (10) finishing in double digits.
Williams scored 26 in the losing effort, but didn’t get enough from her supporting cast to complete the sweep of Salina South.
With this win, the Lady Cougars improve to 12-7 while Maize drops to 7-11.
Boys: Maize 48, Salina South 39
On the boys' side, the Cougars hung tough with the #8 team in class 6A for four full quarters, but in the end, Maize was able to use their length to pull away and complete the season sweep of South.
The Cougars led 13-12 after one, but managed just one field goal in the whole second quarter, falling behind 23-18 at the halftime break.
In the third quarter, the Cougars held Maize to just nine points, trimming the Eagle lead to three, but in the fourth, the Eagles put the game away behind a pair of Pearce George threes from the outside, and a strong Karson Miles effort on the inside.
George (17) and Miles (13) led the charge for Maize as the Eagles finished off a 48-39 victory.
Sawyer Walker led all Cougars with 11 points in the narrow defeat for South.
With this result, Maize improves to 14-4 while South slides to 13-6.
You can watch both of these games on-demand any time below.