Quigley, Sacred Heart shake nerves, rattle Motivation in win

BENSALEM >> A few minutes after Sacred Heart’s first state tournament game in six years, head coach Zach Shuler reflected on the Lions’ 50-25 victory against Motivation Friday evening in the opening round of the PIAA Class 2A state tourney at Bensalem High School.

“This was a great experience for the team,” Shuler said. “Hopefully, our nerves have settled down after this game.”

Sacred Heart will face District 11 champion Minersville (27-0) Tuesday in the second round. Minersville defeated Sayre, the third seed from District 12, 86-26, in its state opener.

Against Motivation, the District 1 champion Lions roared to a 27-7 halftime lead but struggled to score in the first quarter, as both teams committed numerous turnovers.

“We weren’t in the flow the first three or four minutes,” Shuler said.

Motivation, the fourth seed from District 12, was having even more troubles creating an offensive flow, and failed to score a single point until late in the first quarter. The Jaguars committed a wide variety of turnovers in the first quarter.

Sacred Heart got untracked when junior Eileen Piombino hit a trey after a sharp pass from sophomore Liz Franz, and sophomore Jaycee Webster hit a three-point field goal just before the buzzer to end the first quarter.

All but one of Lions’ first field goals were assisted.

“We do share the ball,” Shuler said. “We have a high rate of assisted baskets this season, somewhere around 13 75-80 percent. Motivation was playing zone, so we told the players to be sure to make that extra pass.”

In the second quarter, the Lions’ Kyra Quigley repeatedly worked her way inside, and when the Sacred Heart sophomore wasn’t dropping in field goals, she was drawing fouls. By halftime, Quigley had 10 points. With three minutes left in the game, Quigley had taken all 17 of Sacred Heart’s free throws to that point.

“I kept pushing to the basket tonight,” said Quigley, who finished with 17 points. “And I was getting some great passes. We had some rough patches tonight, but everybody pushed each other through.”

Quigley, who was out all last season with an ACL injury, said, “Playing in the state opener was really exciting. I’m grateful and thankful to be a part of it. When the game was over, we were relieved it was over, and are excited for our next game.”

Sacred Heart ran into some foul trouble in the third quarter, with a trio of Lions each picking up a third personal foul.

“We need to be better disciplined on defense,” Shuler said. “We were trying for steals instead of sliding our feet and keeping our opponent in front of us, and we picked up seven quick fouls in the third quarter.”