Irish WCAL champs

The Sacred Heart Cathedral Fightin' Irish and St. Ignatius Wildcats traveled to play each other in the West Catholic Athletic League championship game at Foothill College. The Wildcats found themselves battling from behind all night long as Sacred Heart never took its foot off the gas. The Fightin' Irish combined great defense with a decent offensive attack to hold off St. Ignatius by a score of 47-39.

Sacred Heart's guard Kai'ree Howard led the Fightin' Irish in scoring, going 4-of-10 for 11 points. She also added four rebounds. The heart of the WCAL champion defense, A'Shanti Coleman, had four blocks and a steal on the night.

"It's an amazing feeling, we worked hard for this all season and to see it finally pay off, it's the best feeling," said Howard.

St. Ignatius did all they could to stay in contention, as they were led by the scoring of forward Sydney Raggio, center Josie Little, and guard Janessa Manzano. Raggio had nine points on 4-8 shooting, Manzano had eleven points on 2-5 shooting, and Little added eight points. The problem for the Wildcats is the fact that they only went 11-49 from the field as a team, which is a horribly low 22 percent.

The Fightin' Irish were just too powerful on defense, which was a good thing, because they struggled shooting the ball as well. They went just 17-48 from the field or 35 percent.

With the loss, the St. Ignatius Wildcats drop to a record of 22-4, going 10-2 in league play. Even with the loss, they will likely get a very high seeding for sections as they have had much success in the regular season. During the regular season the Wildcats split the series with Sacred Heart, 1-1.

As for Sacred Heart, the win propels them to a record of 19-6, going 10-2 in league. The Fightin' Irish are extremely happy with the WCAL championship, however it is clear that they want to get even further. With great play from their defense, they have a chance to go far. If their shooting improves this Sacred Heart team could be dangerous in sections.