By ADAM COULTER
Salina Post Contributor
Sacred Heart traveled to Lyons Friday night to begin its NCAA league schedule and came home with a doubleheader sweep. The Lady Knights never trailed in a 62-25 blowout and the Sacred Heart boys followed with a 70-57 triumph.
In the first matchup of the evening, the Sacred Heart girls opened on a 7-0 run and led the entire game. By the end of the first quarter, the Lady Knights were ahead by as many as 20 points and held a 22-4 advantage.
Sacred Heart extended its advantage to 37-12 at halftime and 55-19 after three quarters. With a running fourth-quarter clock, the Lady Knights went on for a 37-point win.
The Sacred Heart girls improve to 3-3 overall and 1-0 in the NCAA league. Skylar Douglas led the way with 26 points. Adelyn Lee scored 19 and Mia Hamilton added nine off the bench.
In the boys game, Sacred Heart trailed only once. Down 2-0, the Knights scored the next eight points and never looked back. The Lions trailed 21-13 after the opening quarter.
After building its first double-figure lead, Sacred Heart surrendered a surge by Lyons and clung to a 33-29 advantage at halftime.
Sacred Heart began the third quarter on another run. This time a 7-0 spurt put the Knights back on top by 11 points, but the Lions answered to again cut the deficit to four.
The Knights were on top 53-44 entering the final period and, after leading by as many as 14, finished the game on top by a baker's dozen. Sacred Heart remains perfect with a 6-0 overall record and is 1-0 in the NCAA league.
In a statistical anomaly, the Knights didn't score a two-point field goal after the opening quarter. Every Sacred Heart basket the last three quarters either came from the free-throw line or behind the arc.
Will Tuttle scored 22 points to lead the Knights. Maddox Wells added 19 and Noah Hines scored 11 points. Luke Koland tallied 9 as well.
Sacred Heart resumes its schedule on Friday, January 3rd and will host Minneapolis in an NCAA league doubleheader. Coverage of both games will be available at salinapost.com.