Foul Trouble Costs SHA in Class A Finals at NY State Catholic HS Championship

Sacred Heart and St. Mary's of Lancaster both posted wins on Saturday, March 13, to advance to the Sunday, March 14th Finals in the NY State Catholic HS Championship Tournament.  SHA faced St. Anthony's of South Huntington for the Class A Championship.  The score was deadlocked at 25 all at halftime, but then the Lady Sharks surprisingly ran into foul trouble with 4 players going to the bench.  St. Anthony's effectively shut down SHA's offensive plan in the second half with their tenacious defense and ended up winning 55-44.  Sarah Pawlak managed 13 points and 9 rebounds.  La' Trice Hall also had 9 rebounds plus 4 points.  Christina Healy put in 8 points while sister Katie whose cool composure helped win the Semi-Final game on Saturday was held to just 2 points and fouled out. SHA finishes the season with a 22-5 record.

St. Mary's played Sacred Heart of Hempstead in the Class B Final and brought home the Class B Championship Title with a 57-54 victory. Congratulations to both Western NY teams for making it to the finals!!

All other Western NY MMA teams bowed out in the Quarterfinals on Friday, March 12.  Nichols was blown away in their Class AA Quarterfinal game with St. Peter's by a score of 76-47 while Nardin experienced a 62-35 loss to St. Anthony's in Class A and Cardinal O'Hara came up short 55-46 while playing Sacred Heart of Long Island in Class B.

Saturday's Semi-Final game featuring Sacred Heart versus St. Mary's of the Bronx was "very, very close, very tight" according to Coach Sister Maria Pares.  Katie Healy was a standout under pressure as she clinched 3 free throws in the final seconds to seal the 51-48 victory for the Lady Sharks.  Katie also grabbed 17 rebounds along with her 13 points.  Sarah Pawlak was high scorer for SHA with 21 and freshwoman La' Trice Hall contributed 6.  Sacred Heart managed an impressive 16 for 18 foul shot mark -- which really made the difference in this Semi-Final game.

On Friday night the Lady Sharks were in control in their Class A Quarterfinal matchup with Cardinal Spellman of the Bronx.  SHA led at half-time by a score of 24-20 and then turned it up a notch in the second half pouring in 40 more points to win 64-41.  Sarah Pawlak accounted for 15 points and 10 rebounds.  Freshwoman La' Trice Hall put in 12 big points with Katie Healy adding 8 more.  Bridget Andrews hit two key 3-point baskets for her six while the remainder of the team (7 players) contributed 23 points. 

Lady Sharks Bring Home MMA Championship Trophy with Sweet Victory over Nichols

To view more Buffalo News photos from the MMA Championship Game go to their photo galleries.

SHA's Varsity Basketball squad now has an overall season record of 20-4, and they are ranked #3 in the Girls Large School Poll behind Nichols and public school power Lockport.  That may all change this week since Sacred Heart pulled a reversal of fortune on Sunday afternoon, March 7th, when they met archrival Nichols at Daemen College with the Monsignor Martin Championship on the line.  The Lady Sharks pulled off a well-deserved
53-42 victory and took home the trophy which has been eluding them since the 2005-2006 season.

Last year at this time, SHA's Varsity Basketball team had a PERFECT season going for them.  They had won the Monsignor Martin Association regular season title, and they were in the Monsignor Martin Championship game facing #2 Nichols.  Nichols, however, spoiled SHA's perfect record and captured the Monsignor Martin Championship by eking out a one point victory (50-49) over the Lady Sharks -- leaving a very bitter taste with Coach Sister Maria Pares. 

This year both Nichols and SHA had identical 12-1 records going into the final game of the regular season -- a game which would decide the regular season title.  When they met on February 25th SHA had everything going for them; they were leading at half-time 21-14 and looked in control.  Then in the second half Nichols applied a full court press that allowed them to erase the deficit and take the win 51-45 plus the Monsignor Martin regular season title.

So the Lady Sharks definitely wanted this Championship game badly.  They were probably trying too hard in the first half.  Nichols appeared to be in the driver's seat coasting along with as much as a 10 point lead at times.  By half-time the score stood at 31-23 in Nichols' favor, and they looked in control.   The second half, however, found the Lady Sharks applying some new tactics which stymied Nichols holding them to just 9 points in the third quarter and to a mere 2 points in the fourth.  On the way to victory the Lady Sharks got two key 3 point baskets from Bridget Andrews and 3 consecutive baseline jumpers from Caitlyn Colucci.  SHA also relied on their three tallest players: Christina Healy, Katie Healy, and Sarah Pawlak.   Katie Healy had 17 rebounds, six steals, and 9 points while sister Christina Healy put up 12 points, grabbed 7 rebounds, and was named to the All-Catholic first team.   Sarah Pawlak tallied 11 points as well as 11 rebounds and was also named the Monsignor Martin Association North Division co-MVP in a postgame ceremony.

Now it is on to the NY State Catholic Tournament in New York City this coming weekend, March 12-14. 

The Road to the 2009-2010 Monsignor Martin Championship:

• The Monsignor Martin Quarterfinals began on Saturday, February 27, with SHA facing St. Mary's of Lancaster at Canisius College and winning handily by a score of 67-42. 

• The Semi-finals were held on Tuesday, March 2, with SHA taking a 39-28 victory over the Nardin Gators while Nichols (20-5) demolished Mt. St. Mary 61-48.  (See the Buffalo News article for more details.) 

• The Final featuring SHA versus Nichols was played on Sunday, March 7, with Sacred Heart winning the Monsignor Martin Championship with a resounding 53-42 victory.  (See the Buffalo News article "Sacred Heart at the height of its game in big win" for more details.)