At the end of the night, the Sacred Heart boys’ basketball team didn’t feel the best about its performance, a 54-48 victory over El Dorado.

But as coach Pat Martin pointed out, “a win’s and win.”

While Sacred Heart had a lot of positives, there’s still a lot of things to work on, particularly rebounding after their first game in the Chapman Classic.

Things started out well for the defending 2A state champs. Led by Charlie Skidmore, the Knights raced out to a 10-2 lead and ended the first quarter up, 18-9.

The Knights continued their good offense and timely defense in to the second stanza. Skidmore had bounced back from his tough shooting performance against Hesston by soaking two triples. Outside of Skidmore, the Knights had a balanced scoring attack in first half to give Sacred Heart a 30-19 halftime advantage.

Sacred Heart would come out in third quarter and score the first four points, and it felt like they were in complete control. However, the 15-point would be their largest as El Dorado began to chip away.

Led by Jarin Koehler, the Wildcats began the rally when the junior guard began to heat up from three. The Wildcat hit two 3s to pull El Dorado closer. By the fourth quarter, with Sacred Heart struggling on offense–and rebounding on defense–El Dorado pulled to within two on two separate occasions.

That’s when a pair of Sacred Heart seniors stepped up. Blake Palen got things going when he had two consecutive steal and scores in the final period on his way to 8-points.

With score at 50-48 in the final two-minutes, fellow Knight senior, Grant Herrenbruck was clutch down the stretch as he three free-throws with the game in the balance.

El Dorado would eventually run out of time and Sacred Heart made just enough free-throws to secure their first win.

Herrenbruck led the way with 13, while Skidmore finished with 12-points.

For El Dorado (0-2) they were led by Koehler with 21 and Cameron Clausing with 13-points.

Sacred Heart (1-1, 1-0 Chapman Classic) will play Rossville on Friday afternoon on FM 104.9.

SACRED HEART 56, El Dorado 50

The Sacred Heart girls’ basketball team bounced back from their opening game loss at Hesston last Friday with a 56-50 win to open up the Chapman Classic at 1-0.

For the most part, Sacred Heart controlled the first half, as the Knights at one point led 17-11 midway through the second quarter. By halftime though, El Dorado rallied to tied the game at 21.

El Dorado came out firing on all cylinders in the third quarter. The Wildcats were paced by junior, Hailey Eaton, who finished with 22-points on the afternoon. She led El Dorado to a seven-point lead at point in the third quarter.

Still, Sacred Heart was never out of the game. The Knights got a huge game from sophomore, Amber Palen, who made clutch shots to help the Knights rally.

After trailing 39-35 after three, Sacred Heart outscored El Dorado in the deciding period, 21-11–mainly by way of the foul line. El Dorado also cooled off from the field to help Sacred Heart secure its first win.

The Knights (1-1, 1-0 Chapman Classic) were paced by Palen’s 14-points. Ally Cochran tallied her second-consecutive game in double-figures to start the season with 12-points.

Sacred Heart girls’ and boys’ basketball is back in action on Friday as the Knights play Rossville in the second round of the Chapman Classic. Game times on FM 104.9 are 3/4:45.

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