Sacred Heart falls in the state CHSAA 'A' final despite strong rally

Sacred Heart has been no stranger to slow starts this girls basketball season. The Spartans dropped five of their first eight games, in part because of a challenging non-conference schedule, but it instilled a never-quit attitude in the team. The Spartans showcased that mindset yet again in their final game of the season.

The Spartans trailed by 12 points with less than three minutes left on Saturday. Yet, instead of accepting defeat, they scored the game’s next eight points to put a scare into their opponent.

“Our one motto is ‘hustle and heart’ and that’s what we gave,” senior forward Anne Kiernan said. “It’s been drilled in us since I was a freshman and I’ve been on this team for four years, so that’s something I’ve learned and I’m never going to stop using. And I think that’s what got us to push through and keep going.”

Sacred Heart couldn’t pull the score any closer in its 57-48 loss to St. Mary’s (Lancaster) in the state CHSAA ‘A’ girls basketball championship at Hofstra on Saturday night. But that doesn’t take away from all the Spartans achieved this season.

“That team we played was a really, really good basketball team,” coach Bob Speck said. “Well coached. We knew we had a big challenge. Our kids left it out there. They kept trying, we made that push at the end, so I’m super proud of them.”

The Spartans showed that comeback fight to answer setbacks throughout the season. After losing their first two games of the season in tough non-conference matchups against Syosset and Manhasset, senior guard Haylee Ellwood never could have imagined reaching a state final.

“If you would have asked me if we would have been in the state championship after the beginning of the season, I would have laughed,” Ellwood said. “We had a rough start to the season but that just shows the character of every single girl on the team and the coaching staff that we never gave up on each other.”

Sacred Heart closed the regular season on a seven-game winning streak. The Spartans used that momentum to defeat St. Mary’s (Manhasset), 39-29, on March 3 in the Nassau-Suffolk CHSAA final to win its first league championship since 1997.

Kiernan had 20 points and nine rebounds, Emma Frohne had 11 points and Ellwood added 10 points for Sacred Heart (17-10) on Saturday. Emily McDonald had 19 points for St. Mary’s (19-8).

“Even though it didn’t end for us the way we wanted to, we’ve come so far and I’m so proud of everybody,” senior guard Mary-Kate Sussman said. “We started really rough and we knew we had to put the work in if we wanted to get here and this was the dream for us. We knew winners never quit and we never quit. We left it all on the court.”

“It took us so much to get here and we were all so happy and excited to get here,” Frohne said. “Especially coming off a league championship, so coming in here, we just gave it our all.”

Sacred Heart trailed, 25-19, at halftime and the first two minutes of the third quarter gave the impression the score could get out of hand quickly. St. Mary’s opened the second half on a 7-3 run, taking a 32-22 lead 1:24 into the third quarter — the largest lead for either team up to that point.

But the Spartans quickly answered. Sacred Heart went on a 7-0 run to cut St. Mary’s lead to 32-29 with 4:40 left in the third quarter. But ultimately, the Spartans couldn’t bring the score any closer.

“I’m so proud of this team,” Kiernan said. “From the beginning, we’ve been working hard and we had this goal from the beginning of the season, so being able to work as hard as we did and get to this spot and get rewarded with this opportunity was beyond amazing.”