Lady Trojans use dominant defense in win Friday

It is a given that if a team wishes to earn a victory, that team must either outscore the other team or play dominating defense. The Sacred Heart Lady Trojans did both in a 61-29 win over the St. Joe’s Lady Eagles on Friday. Sacred Heart’s defense was so good that the Lady Eagles were unable to reach double digits until the third quarter of the non-district contest. The Lady Trojans move to 7-8 on the year with the win.
From the opening tip-off, Sacred Heart took control of the game and never relented that control for the rest of the contest. The Lady Trojans ran off nine points, including four points from Kara Aguillard, in the first 3:32 seconds to take the 9-0 lead. Three free throws by the Lady Eagles cut the lead to 9-3. However, Sacred Heart’s Mary-Margaret Gil hit a bucket with 1:21 left in the quarter to extend the lead to 11-3 as the period closed.
The second quarter started with both teams exchanging points. A 13-5 lead with 5:37 left in the period was extended to 25-6 as the Lady Trojans went on a 12-1 run in the next four plus minutes. Three free throws by St. Joe’s and a two-point basket by Aguillard closed out the quarter. Catherine Poche netted six points in the second period and Sacred Heart led 27-9 as the buzzer sounded to end the first half.
As the third quarter began, the Lady Eagles tried to get back into the game. The Lady Trojans would not allow that to happen, answering every St. Joseph basket with one of their own. At the halfway point of the period, Sacred Heart had extended their lead to 35-16. The last part of the third quarter saw Gabby Andrepont drop in four points and Andie Landry chip in two points to push the Lady Trojan lead to 41-17 to close out the period.
In the final quarter, Sacred Heart utilized their bench and gave some playing time to a number of underclassmen. The Lady Trojan starters began the quarter and lengthened the lead to 51-20 with 4:33 left in the period. The Lady Eagles were able to put up 12 points in the stanza. However, the Lady Trojans knocked down 20 points and finished the game with a dominating win.
Sacred Heart was led by Poche, who netted 14 points in the game. Aguillard chipped in 12 points for the Lady Trojans. Poche also led all rebounders with nine total boards. Sacred Heart collected 28 steals, including seven by Natalie Earles. Collectively, the Lady Trojans shot 43 percent from the field.