The Sacred Heart Valkyries are ranked highly in their home state, and on Saturday they took on another highly ranked team in the form of the Incarnate Word Academy Red Knights. Sacred Heart fell just short of Incarnate Word Academy by a score of 52-50. Sacred Heart just can't catch a break and has now endured three losses in a row.
When it comes to explaining why Sacred Heart lost, one person who can't be blamed is ZaKiyah Johnson. Despite the final result, she scored 25 points along with six rebounds and two steals. That was a full 50% of Sacred Heart's points, marking the fourth time in a row she's earned more than a third of the team's points. Reagan Bender was another key contributor, scoring ten points along with five steals.
Sacred Heart's loss dropped their record down to 12-7. As for Incarnate Word Academy, the win for they keeps them at an undefeated 15-0.
Sacred Heart will get a bit of extra time to process the loss as their next game is a ways off. They'll take on Christian Academy-Louisville at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Christian Academy-Louisville will have to bring their A-game into this one, as they are staring down a pretty big deficit in the MaxPreps Kentucky Rankings (they are ranked 52nd, while Sacred Heart is ranked seventh). As for Incarnate Word Academy, they will be playing in front of their home fans against St. Joseph's Academy at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday.
