Clutch plays late help George Rogers Clark take down North Laurel in Girls’ Sweet 16
With her team clinging to a one-point lead with under a minute to play, George Rogers Clark junior guard Teigh Yeast did what she’s been drilled to do all season — attack the basket.
Yeast’s drive down the right side of the lane yielded a bucket and a foul to help the No. 2 Cardinals extend their margin and go on to claim a 50-42 victory over No. 7 North Laurel in the Clark’s Pump-N-Shop Girls’ Basketball Sweet 16 state tournament quarterfinals Friday at Rupp Arena.
“We just stayed calm, stayed aggressive, and just did what we do,” said Yeast, who scored nine points while also guarding North Laurel’s best player, Brooke Nichelson, on the other end for much of the game. “Being aggressive and taking it to the rim right there was what we needed.”
Clark (27-7) scored the final seven points of the day session opener after seeing North Laurel (32-3) scrap its way from an eight-point deficit to the lead late in the third quarter.
“We didn’t have our best at times throughout the course of the game, but we stayed together, played together, and fought through some adversity,” Clark coach Robbie Graham said.
Senior forward Khania Jones, who battled a serious health problem last fall that lingered and kept her out much of this season, started and finished Clark’s closing run with a block at the 1:03 mark and a steal with 14 seconds left that let her teammates feed her for the last layup of the game.
“It’s a miracle and a blessing that she’s even in uniform and able to run up and down the court,” Graham said. “She’s been through so much, physically, health-wise and, through the grace of God, she’s able to come out here and run and play. … She gives us everything she’s got.”
Jones finished with seven points. Kennedy Stamper and Ciara Byars led Clark with 10 each.
North Laurel trailed 21-17 at halftime due largely to 10 turnovers that led to nine Clark points. But beginning in the third quarter, the Jaguars began forcing Clark to cough the ball up.
Haley Combs’ steal and layup with 50 seconds left in the third quarter capped a 9-0 run that put North Laurel up 32-30. Clark answered with a Stamper jumper and two Byars free throws to take a 34-32 lead going into the fourth.
The Jaguars tied the game again 34-34 early in the fourth quarter, but Clark pushed its lead back to 39-34 on three possessions that included six offensive rebounds, four on one play alone.
“They’re a heck of a team, very talented, a very physical team,” North Laurel coach Eddie Mahan said. “We knew that coming in. It took time to adapt, especially the first half, I think, to the physicality that was allowed.”
Later, Nichelson, North Laurel’s Miss Basketball candidate and a Murray State signee, scored back-to-back layups and had a chance to tie the game once more. Her last basket cut Clark’s edge to 43-42 with 1:40 to play, but she missed the free throw and North Laurel would not score again.
Nichelson finished with a game-high 22 points and 11 rebounds to close out a high school career that has included three straight 12th Region championships.
“She’s one of the best players in the state and she’s left a legacy at North Laurel that will be very hard to fill,” Mahan said. “But it will be one for young people to look up to and strive after because she’s such a great athlete and such a great young lady.”
This story was originally published March 14, 2025 at 6:23 PM.
