Immaculate Heart is having one of the best starts in school history and the Knights are doing it without much fanfare. It’s difficult for a “small school” with less than 100 enrolled to get much publicity as it is, but it’s hard to ignore a 13-4 record.

The Knights defeated St. Augustine 52-22 on Wednesday night to push that record forward and it’s a record that includes wins over much larger schools such as Sahuarita (3A), Benson (2A) and Willcox (2A) with close calls against Gilbert Christian, St. Johns and The Gregory School.

Those three losses came by a combined 14 points. Only Tanque Verde (3A) was able to dominate the Knights this year with an impressive 47-13 win during the Boyd Baker Tournament.

Only a sophomore, Emily Haynes has emerged as one of the leaders for the Knights and she led all scorers with 14 points. She scored the first eight points in the game to help pace Immaculate Heart early.

“We worked really hard in the summer and it’s starting to really pay off,” Haynes said. “We are focusing on shooting 3’s, making breakaway layups and defense. I’m really proud to be a part of this team.”

Conversely, St. Augustine (0-5) is having a difficult start but that’s understandable considering the Wolves lost five seniors to graduation including most of the starters.

“If you noticed, we have no seniors on our team this year,” junior guard Alyssa Chioye explained. “We also have a lot of players who have never played before but we are developing together and are building a program. I hope to do better this year and step up and make a big impact.”

Chioye scored eight points to lead the Wolves and sophomore Arianna Navarette added six. Besides the 14 scored by Haynes, Grace Aroz scored seven as did Isabel Teich.

St. Augustine hosts San Miguel (2-3) on Friday and Immaculate Heart will travel to Patagonia (3-3) on Thursday.