The Ellsworth girls’ basketball team played against the Sacred Heart Knights Tuesday, Feb. 25, at Ellsworth’s Senior Night, and won 38-25. With the win, the team nabbed the NCAA League title, marking their first league championship since 1998. The Bearcats share the League title with Southeast of Saline.

Things got off to an extremely strong start for the Bearcats, as they quickly took control of the game and started off with a massive lead. Not only were they able to put numbers on the board, they also stopped the Knights from getting anywhere. The Knights fell further and further behind, and were put in the hole, where they would spend the rest of the game trying to claw their way out of it. The first quarter ended 14-3, with the Cats making off with a gargantuan lead.

Things slowed down in the second quarter. The Cats didn’t make nearly as much progress as they did before, but they still expanded their lead. The Knights weren’t able to produce the table-turning number of points they needed. The second quarter ended 22-9, with the Bearcats leagues ahead and the Knights unable to even break double digits.

Coming out of halftime, there was a shift. In the third quarter, the Cats slowed down even more.

They weren’t be able to make any progress, and started to lose ground.

The Knights, two quarters too late, started to get serious. They finally made it into double digits, and moved even further past that. The third quarter ended 27-20, with the Knights starting to gain ground.

If the Knights’ energy, and the Cats’ lack thereof, had carried into the fourth quarter, the game would’ve ended much dif- ferently. The Bearcats, though, found a reserve. The Knights lost their momentum and went back to not scoring much of anything. The game ended closer than either team would’ve liked, but still exactly as expected.

“This year our team has shared the ball well,” junior Johanna Lindsley said, “and on Tuesday night, we shared the ball and we played good defense too”.

This put the Cats’ season record at 14-5 with a 9-2 league record.

The Bearcats’ Sub-State Semifinals game will be at 6 p.m. Thursday, March 9 at home.