Pacers Power Past Sheehan in SCC 1st Round

The first round of the SCC playoffs provided Sacred Heart Academy with a reasonable test, the #4 Pacers hosted #13 seeded Sheehan. The Pacers lost to the Titans in overtime in their first meeting of the year and rebounded to win the teams' second meeting. Sacred Heart Academy was running on all cylinders during Friday night's SCC first round playoff game topping the Titans 52-28.

The Titans jumped out to a quick 6-0 lead before the Pacers kicked into gear. Sacred Heart scored 21-straight points to close the first quarter of play.

“When we played them a couple weeks ago our pressure over the course of the game really ended up creating a nice lead for us,” said Pacers' coach David Alexandro. "We really wanted to press today, we also wanted to mix up our presses.”

Sheehan coach Mike Busillo agreed that the pressure cripled his team's promising opening minutes.

"The first two and a half minutes of the game we played well," said Busillo. “We were doing some things well and then we got off the game plan. They (Sacred Heart Academy) are playing at a high level right now with their press and have fine tuned it tremendously since our first meeting of the season, they deserve credit for that. We didn't play our best game, all year we've shown spurts of being good, then spurts of playing poorly.”

Sophomore guard had a strong first quarter and continued the effort popping a three-pointer in the opening minute of the second quarter. The basket extended the Pacers' lead to 24-6, Sacred Heart would take a 30-14 advantage into halftime.

Sheehan was able to keep pace with the Pacers for the remainder of the game but could not overcome the early game burst by Sacred Heart Academy.

“Once we had the lead, the confidence built up, we started taking more chances in the press and creating turnovers," said Alexandro. "One of our big focuses lately is sticking with the pressure.”

The Pacers were led by Iannone who finished with 14 points while junior Natalie Bastian added 13 points.

Sacred Heart Academy continues to play without , who is out with a back injury. Kane is hopeful to return in the potential later rounds of state competition.

The Pacers will take on #5 seed Shelton Saturday in West Haven. Sacred Heart Academy is looking for their first SCC conference championship in basketball since 1996.

Editor's Note: Sheehan guard Olivia Collete sustained a serious injury during the second quarter, paramedics were called and Collete left Sacred Heart Academy just before the second half. The injury was described by coach Busillo as an already sensitive shoulder injury she had sustained early in the year. Collete, a freshman, had been averaging close to ten points per game since returning from the shoulder ailment earlier in the season.