Ayo Hart began her varsity basketball coaching career at Sacred Heart Greenwich in the winter of 2017 and it took only eight seasons for her to reach a special milestone, one that not many coaches achieve.

No. 1-seeded Sacred Heart Greenwich earned an impressive 63-24 victory over eighth-seeded Greenwich Academy, giving Hart career win No. 100 during her successful time at the helm at Sacred Heart.

Following the win, the members of the Tigers team gathered with Hart and assistant coaches Carol Leib and Kim Augustine for celebratory pictures, honoring their head coach.

“It’s exciting to reach a milestone for Sacred Heart, I’ve been here eight years,” said Hart, who has guided the Tigers to winning seasons each year she’s headed the team. Sacred Heart is the defending FAA Tournament and regular season champion and finished undefeated in the league this season.

“It’s all a tribute to the girls, I wouldn’t have gotten that without a lot of that without the kids,” Hart said of her coaching milestone. “I’m excited about what we’ve built here at Sacred Heart. We have five middle school teams, so along with the numbers, it’s exciting about what it represents.”

Senior tri-captain/guard Eva Wilkerson scored eight of her 12 points in the first half, sophomore guard/forward Lucianna Parrotta had 15 of her game-high 19 points in the opening half and senior guard/captain Mackenzie Gillen and senior forward/center/captain Jadamarie Henry added six points apiece for SHG against GA.

“It feels so great, she’s earned this and she’s led this team so well this year and my four years, so I’m super proud of her and super happy for her,” Wilkerson said of Hart’s coaching achievement. There’s no one who deserves this more.”

“It’s really exciting and I’m glad we can do it on our home court today with a big win,” Gillen noted.

Hart gained career win No. 100 by coaching SHG to its 18th victory of the season. The Tigers host fourth-seeded Hamden Hall Country Day School today (Feb. 26) in the FAA Tournament semifinals. Hamden Hall advanced to the semifinal-round with a triumph against fifth-seeded Greenwich Country Day School in the tournament’s quarterfinals.

“That was awesome, she definitely made history with career win No. 100,” Henry proudly said of coach Hart. “It definitely speaks to how great of a coach she is. The proof is in the numbers and she proved  that today.”

In Sacred Heart’s win against Greenwich Academy, the hosts led 13-5 after the first quarter, then brought a commanding 36-11 lead into halftime. Parrotta and Wilkerson paced SHG’s offense in the first half, scoring points off shots from the perimeter and on the fastbreak.

“We’ve been preparing but definitely now we have to be sure that we’re locked in as a team and make sure that we’re working hard,” Wilkerson said.

The host Tigers especially found their rhythm offensively in the second quarter, outscoring the Gators, 23-6.

“I thought that we started off slow, we struggled in the first quarter, but in the second quarter we picked up the intensity and were able to make a big statement,” Gillen said.

“We had some good spurts of offense and offensive plays, we had a lot of steals and we did really well scoring on our baseline – out of bounds plays,” Henry added.

Greenwich Academy received eight points from junior center Mallory Walker and an eight-point effort from junior guard Madison Hurns, who made two 3-pointers. Junior forward Mirabel Rodgers had five points and senior guard Eliza Babyak added a basket for two points for GA, which continues to display marked improvement under the guidance of head coach Jordan Griffith. The Gators gained seven wins for the season.

“There’s a reason why they are undefeated in the FAA, a reason why they are one of the top teams in the state,” Griffith said of Sacred Heart. “They earned the opportunity to play here today. I thought we played tough at times, but we missed a lot of open layups. We proved the heart that we had today by not giving up and playing hard.”

The game marked the final basketball matchup for Greenwich Academy senior guard Ruby Montanez, one of the team’s captains.

“It didn’t hit me until the very end I was like this is the last game I’m going to play,” Montanez noted. “It’s hard to come back when you’re down by that much and keep your mentality and stay positive., but we stayed positive. “Where we were at the beginning of the season – we’re so much better now.”

Junior guard/forward Emma Matthews scored seven points, including a 3-pointer, junior guard Ava Curto turned in an eight-point effort, eighth-grader Adrian Allegretti had three points and senior guard Aisha Hassan scored two points, while guiding the offense well for SHG.

“We have to pick up our momentum from here, so we can carry it on to the semifinals and all the way to the finals,” Henry said. “Also, we have to come in with the mindset that it’s win or go home and we want to make it all the way.”

“We’re all very excited,” Gillen said of the team advancing to the semifinals. “The goal is to win FAAs, so I think that we have to lock in and we have a good shot.”

Said Wilkerson: “We’re so determined to defend our title. There’s going to be ups, there’s going to be downs, so we have to be sure that we stay positive and help each other throughout anything.”