Picture courtesy of Tanner Colvin

Carl Hines saw from the start that his Sacred Heart girls basketball team was ready to take a step forward this season.

Early back-to-back losses in Chapman’s Irish Classic notwithstanding, he saw the growth from a year ago when the Knights posted a 10-10 record without a single senior starter.

But what truly convinced Hines came the week after the Irish Classic, which included a 56-52 overtime loss to host Chapman and a 64-57 decision against Rossville.

“Our schedule is tough,” Hines said Tuesday night after the Knights edged Southeast of Saline, 47-45, at Southeast for their fifth straight victory. “Chapman beat us in overtime and we couldn’t make a shot against Rossville.”

“(But) we turned a corner at Berean Academy against state-ranked Berean and went in there and executed our game plan to a tee and beat them by 20.”

Sacred Heart head coach Carl Hines

The streak started with a 55-9 blowout of Bishop Ward to close out the Chapman tournament and picked up steam when they knocked off Berean, 46-29, before closing out 2025 by handling Lyons, 26-23, and then ringing in the new year against Minneapolis, 60-32.

“We’ve definitely been pushing ourselves at practice,” said guard Skylar Douglas, one of the team’s two senior starters. “We’ve definitely kickoff off well this year.”

The Knights pushed their record to 7-2 with the victory at Southeast in a game that featured six ties and seven lead changes.

“There was a lot of motivation to beat them,” said junior guard Addie Lee, who led all scorers with 18 points against Southeast, including a 3-pointer midway through the fourth quarter that broke a 40-40 tie and put the Knights in front to stay.

Junior guard Addie Lee

A basket and two free throws from junior post Edyn Sharpton extended the lead to 47-42, allowing the Knights to hang on. She finished with 12 points and six rebounds.

Douglas, Addie Lee and Sharpton are joined in the starting lineup by senior Nicole Richards and freshman point guard Emmy Lee. Addie Lee leads the team in scoring with 14.5 points per game, followed by Douglas with 13.4 and Emmy Lee with 12.8.

“Our seniors are four-year girls and they’re as good defensively in the quarter-court as we’ve had,” Hines said. “Skylar is money with her left hand and she can score, Nicole is like that glue girl on defense, Addie is a warrior and Edyn has gotten better.”

“Emmy is long and lanky and quick and can handle the ball. Our basketball IQ from top to bottom, even with our younger girls at the (junior varsity) level, is so much better this year.”

Addie Lee credits the Knights’ year-round work for giving them the confidence to close out tight games.

“Four of our five have played club basketball and get our hands on the ball all season,” she said. “We work a lot harder in practices and just all around.”

With Sharpton their tallest player at 5-foot-11, the Knights rely on speed, quickness and defense — not to mention a balanced scoring attack — to compensate for their lack of size.

“We’re a lot faster this year, but we work the ball in the post, too, and I think we just have good chemistry and communication,” Douglas said. “We definitely work well with each other.”

Senior guard Skylar Douglas

“We’re good in transition, we can shoot from the outside, and when we’re on, we can definitely get it to the post, too.”

Emmy Lee shoots 50%, including 48% from 3-point range, while Sharpton is close to 60% from the floor. As a team, they’re shoot 44% and 69% from the free-throw line.

“It’s really hard to guard three good guards and two good posts,” Addie Lee said.

While they are off to a good start, the Knights have their eyes on a bigger prize, namely a trip to the Class 2A state tournament. That would require a top-two finish in a Berean Academy sub-state that currently boasts seven teams with two or fewer losses.

“I have not (been to state before), so I really hope this year we can,” Douglas said of her last go-round. “I think we have a good shot.”

Addie Lee still has a year left after this season but would like nothing better than to send seniors Douglas, Richards and Holly Bonilla out on top.

“That would be nice,” she said. “They’ve worked really hard to get here.”