By TYLER HENRY
Lead Sportswriter - Salina Post
On Tuesday night, the Sacred Heart Knights and Lady Knight defended their home floor, sweeping the rival Trojans of Southeast of Saline in a pair of tight matchups.
Girls Game: Sacred Heart 37, SE of Saline 31
On the girl’s side, the Lady Knights got some much-anticipated revenge over Southeast of Saline, defeating the Lady Trojans for the first time since the 2019-20 season.
With this win, Sacred Heart moves to 8-6 overall and 2-3 in league play while Southeast slides to 9-4 and 4-1.
The Lady Knights came flying out of the gates, forcing turnovers at will, and held a 14-3 lead at the end of the first quarter.
From there, Southeast battled back, trailing by just two at the half and leading by two after three, but slow shooting allowed Sacred Heart to pull away down the stretch and close out their victory.
The Lady Knights were led in scoring by Avery Eshelman (10), Katie Weiss (9), and Skylar Douglas (8) while the Lady Trojans got ten points out of Aba Pearson.
Boys Game: #6 Sacred Heart 55, SE of Saline 51
On the boy’s side, this game was a dogfight through the final minutes, but Sacred Heart was able to maintain control and put the game away at the line to continue their impressive run.
With the win, the Knights move to 12-1 overall and 4-1 in league play while Southeast falls to 6-7 and 1-4.
The Trojans delivered the first punch of this battle, knocking down three quick triples to put themselves ahead 9-2, but the Knights quickly rattled off 11 unanswered to erase the deficit.
Sacred Heart led by ten at the intermission and extended that lead to twelve after three, but Southeast steadily got themselves back in the game by attacking the basket and earning trips to the stripe.
The Trojans would cut the deficit to as few as two on three separate occasions down the stretch but couldn’t even the ledger as the 6th-ranked Knights pulled away in the closing seconds.
Despite being swept by their biggest rival, Connor Caselman posted a new career high, even with Gannon Jacobson with 14 points, while Sacred Heart got big performances out of Michael Matteucci, Jett Samuelson, Max Ehrlich, and Jason Marrs.
Sacred Heart will travel to Ellsworth for their third game in as many days on Wednesday while Southeast returns to Gypsum to square off with Chapman on Friday.