Picture courtesy of Tanner Colvin

EMPORIA — Sacred Heart’s girls can finally hang a state championship banner.

The Knights completed a sweep of the top three seeds in Saturday’s Class 2A championship game, outlasting No. 1 Ellinwood, 43-34, Saturday at White Auditorium for their first-ever state title.

Senior guard Skylar Douglas, who was knocked out with a bloody nose on a hard foul early in the third quarter, came back to hit two big 3-pointers in the fourth — both after Ellinwood had closed the gap to three— and Sacred Heart’s defense held the Eagles scoreless for the final three minutes to secure the victory.

The Knights, who finished with a 25-4 record, beat No. 3 seed St. Mary’s Colgan on Tuesday in the quarterfinals and No. 2 Moundridge in Thursday’s semifinals before putting the cherry on top against Ellinwood (27-2).

Junior Addie Lee had 15 points, Douglas 10 points and freshman Emmy Lee nine points with nine rebounds to lead the Knights, who also got 10 rebounds from senior Nicole Richards. Center Julia Schlessiger led Ellinwood with 12 points and 12 rebounds.

Sacred Heart trailed the entire first quarter and did not take its first lead until Douglas scored to make it 18-16 with 1:20 left in the half. Richards then put the Knights in front for good with a 3-pointer with less than a minute to go before intermission.

The Knights added to their four-point run to end the first half with a 9-0 run to start the second. Addie Lee’s 3-pointer gave them their biggest lead, 31-19.

Sacred Heart could not match its red-hot shooting performance from the semifinals, hitting just 32.2% and going 5-for-20 from 3-point range. But the Knights defense was on point, limiting Ellinwood to 22.2%, including 2 of 24 on 3-pointers.

Ellinwood out-rebounded Sacred Heart, 45-31, but the Knights had a 10-8 advantage in second-chance points.