Sacred Heart makes it three district titles in a row

LOWER MERION — No one is going to tell Sacred Heart Academy that winning a District 1 Class 2A championship for the third year in a row isn’t a cool accomplishment. The top-seeded Lions defeated No. 2 Dock Mennonite, 51-15, to make it a three-peat Saturday at Harriton High School.

Sacred Heart is the little team that could out of the mighty Catholic Academies League. Some years are good, some years are rough. This has been an enjoyable year for everyone involved, even if the real fun — and challenge —  for the Lions begins in two weeks when the PIAA tournament commences. 

“It’s so great to be a part of this,” said junior guard Kayleigh Doyle, who recorded game highs in points (11), rebounds (seven), assists (six) and steals (five). “We lost some seniors last year who were really good leaders, but we have just as good of a crew with Kyra (Quigley), Caitlin (Hughes), Liz (Franz), and the list goes on.”

Sacred Heart did its job by handling a Dock Mennonite (7-13) team that was overmatched. The PIAA’s head-scratching decision a few years back to expand its classification system from four to six enrollment categories has not improved the quality of competition in the smaller divisions, especially in girls basketball. You often see lopsided championship games such as this, and one team leaves with a hearty congratulations for placing second in a four-team field and ending the year with a losing record.

But that doesn’t mean a thing to the Lions, who showed how well-coached they are in playing for Zach Shuler, who has been on the bench for 13 years and has guided the Lions to a handful of district titles. This core of starters has grown and exceeded expectations in the year following the graduation of Eileen Piombino, who scored 1,000 career points in her career.

“It was hard to see Eileen go, she was a huge part of the team, both on and off the court. I think everyone knew this year that we had to work a little harder and step up,” said Quigley, who had eight points, seven rebounds, four steals and two blocked shots. “We had to put our game faces on and get better.”

Sacred Heart led 12-4 after the first quarter and 28-6 at halftime. Dock Mennonite shot 4-for-35 and committed 26 turnovers. In the second period, Sacred Heart amassed 10 stolen passes.

Despite their domination, the Lions didn’t know what to expect from Dock during pre-game warm-ups.

“We were a little hesitant coming into the game because we saw the box score of their last game,” Quigley said. “They put up a lot of points … and if a team can do that, it might be hard for us to score. I know their league (Bicenntenial) is pretty tough and they’re well-coached.”

Doyle was the lone player in double figures for the Lions (15-8). Franz added nine points and five rebounds, Hughes tossed in eight points and made two 3-pointers, and Dani Santora contributed four points, five steals and two assists. Carina Fichera helped off the bench with seven points and two blocks.

“We knew at the start of the season, we wanted to get to states and make another run, but first we had to win districts,” Doyle said. “Now we’ll start focusing a little more on states. Winning districts again, it’s definitely a big milestone in our season and we always look forward to it.”