Cardinal O'Hara’s Sara DiPasquale shoots over Sacred Heart’s Hannah Rehbaum Wednesday at Cardinal O'Hara High School. The Hawks saw their winning streak snapped in a 65-53 loss to the Sharks. Photo by Scott SchildPurchase color photos at www.BeeNews.com For the first time in a while, the Cardinal O’Hara Hawks have to deal with some adversity and the unfamiliar feeling of recovering from a loss.

After winning eight games in a row, the Hawks lost their first league game of the season last Wednesday as they were downed by Sacred Heart, 65-53. It was a key showdown for supremacy in the Monsignor Martin Association as Cardinal O’Hara entered the game with a 14-2 record, while Sacred Heart was right behind them at 12-4.

O’Hara built up a 14-12 lead after one quarter before Sacred Heart exploded in the second quarter. The Sharks outscored the Hawks, 17-7, as Sacred Heart’s Kayla Burt led the charge. Burt finished the game with a game-high 20 points.

Cardinal O’Hara was led once again by leading scorer Leah Mc- Donell, who had 16 points. Aaron Shabazz was right behind her with 13 points, while her sister, Aisha added nine and Kayla Brown had seven points.

The Sharks had four scorers finish in double figures with Burt, Kelly Farrell (15), Hannah Rehbaum (11) and LaTrice Hall (11).

The Hawks will be looking to rebound when host Nichols on Wednesday. The game will begin at 6 p.m. They follow that up on Friday with a showdown against Rochester’s Aquinas, one of the few teams to beat the Hawks this season. That game will also be at 6 p.m. at Cardinal O’Hara. The Hawks still have yet to play a sizeable chunk of their schedule with five league games still left to play.

The Hawks remain in first place in the Monsignor Martin and are also still first in the Western New York Small School standings.

Meanwhile, the Kenmore West Blue Devils have found continued success during the New Year despite a loss in their last game of January. Kenmore West went 6-3 during the first month of the year and at one point had a four-game winning streak. They closed out January with a 46-39 loss to 11-3 Grand Island, the top team in the Niagara Frontier League, last Tuesday.

The Blue Devils stayed with the Vikings all game, but could not find a way to catch them. Senior Lauren Czarniak led the Blue Devils with 12 points, while Jessica Jolley and Jenna Panepinto had six. Panepinto and her sister, Lexi finished tied for the team lead with six rebounds, while Lexi added a team-high seven steals.

Kallie Banker led Grand Island to victory as she had 12 points and five assists. The win improved Grand Island to 9-1 in league play.

The Blue Devils returned to play on Tuesday as they hosted Niagara-Wheatfield. The game began after The Bee went to press. On Friday, they will travel to North Tonawanda and will close out the regular season next Wednesday when they visit their rivals from Kenmore East at 5:30.

As for Kenmore East, the Bulldogs have begun to straighten things out in 2012 with four wins during the month of January. Their most recent win came on the final day of January with a 49-26 victory over Lew-Port. Gabe Boldinski led the way for the Bulldogs with 14 points in the victory. The key was a 14-4 third quarter to really open the game up for the Bulldogs.

Kenmore East could not keep the momentum going this past Friday as they suffered a 67-31 loss to Lockport. Emma Sobieraski had 29 points to lead Lockport to the victory. They outscored Kenmore East 39-13 in the first half.

The Bulldogs had a chance to get back to .500 with a win over Lockport. The loss dropped them to 6-8 overall and 4-7 in NFL play. The Bulldogs visited Niagara Falls on Tuesday after The Bee went to press.

On Friday, Kenmore East hosts Grand Island at 7:30 p.m. Next week will feature their big rivalry matchup with Kenmore West at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday and their final game of the regular season at Clarence at 7:30 p.m. next Friday.