SHA Basketball Season Comes to a Close

The Sacred Heart basketball team wrapped up its season in the Region 7 semifinal on Friday night with a controversial loss to rival Manual in overtime. The officiating of the game was widely criticized by both sides on Twitter over the weekend, spurred by three technical fouls, the ejection of Manual’s head coach, and an offensive foul in the final minutes that knocked SHA standout, DaiJia Ruffin, out of the game.
Although the season outcome did not meet their goals, Coach Donna Moir spoke fondly of this season. “I loved each and every day that I spent with this team,” she said. “[We] had fun, worked hard and had a lot of success.”

The team will be losing three seniors this year: Caroline Long, Kristin Matula, and Julia Stough. Moir said, “The three seniors were three of the hardest working players that I have ever had in our basketball program. [They] were always the first ones at practice and sacrificed for the team.”

Despite losing three valuable players, Moir is hopeful for next year. “I am looking forward to having everyone back healthy,” Moir said. “We have a core group back that knows how to win.”

Season Recap:

The team kicked off the season with an 11-0 record which included winning the Nike Tournament of Champions in Arizona. They defeated Archbishop Mitty, a team out of San Jose, California, 63-61 moving up to #44 in the MaxPrep’s national ranking and #1 in the state ranking. Head Coach Donna Moir said, “Winning the tournament was awesome, it was a national tournament and put Sacred Heart basketball name out there.” She added, “The players were so excited because that was the first tournament they have won like that.”

In the district play, junior DaiJia Ruffin scored her 1,000th career point at SHA against Seneca. Sophomores Ashley Johnson and Gretchen Samsel, in addition to Ruffin were chosen for the 27th District All- Tournament team.