George Rogers Clark, Sacred Heart set for Girls’ Sweet 16 title showdown in Rupp Arena

After bowing out in the first round last season — albeit to the eventual four-time defending state champs — George Rogers Clark was determined not just to make it to the tournament’s final day, but its last game.

For the first time since 1991, the Cardinals will suit up for the state championship game. They defeated Frederick Douglass 75-52 Saturday afternoon in the Clark’s Pump-N-Shop Girls’ Basketball Sweet 16 semifinals at Rupp Arena.

Near the end of its 57-46 loss to Sacred Heart in last year’s tournament, Cardinals head coach Robbie Graham pulled his starters and set the bar for their current season.

“We talked about getting back here and that the goal was to win four games,” Graham said. “The goal is to win four games. We’ve accomplished three-quarters of that and tonight will be a task. We know it’s not gonna be easy.”

Should GRC accomplish its mission, it will have done so by overcoming the biggest obstacle in its path for nearly a half decade. Sacred Heart defeated Danville Christian Academy 60-44 in the second semifinal, continuing their push for an unprecedented fifth straight state title.

Each of GRC’s last three seasons ended at the hands of Sacred Heart, which beat them in the 2022 quarterfinals and 2023 semifinals in addition to last year’s opener. The teams met twice in the regular season; the Cardinals lost 68-42 in the Louisville Invitational Tournament finals on Feb. 1 and again at home, 80-68, less than two weeks later.

“They’re making history. We’re hoping we can disrupt that a little bit,” Graham said. “They’re well-coached, they have a top-10 player in the country, they’re a great program. A great program, and we know that. We’re gonna show up tonight, tip it up tonight and we’re gonna give it everything we got.”

Kennedy Stamper’s blistering start from long distance set the tone early for GRC. The sophomore point guard made her first five attempts from beyond the arc en route to a 7-for-9 performance. That fell one shy of matching the single-game Sweet 16 record for made 3-pointers set by Henderson County’s Maci Brown in 2015. Stamper led all scorers with 27 points and added two steals.

The Cardinals (28-7) will vie for their first state title after going 0-3 in their previous appearances.

Broncos’ bright future

Frederick Douglass (27-8) wasn’t picked to win the 11th Region Tournament. The Broncos graduated Ayanna-Sarai Darrington, who averaged 10.6 points per game as a freshman for Central Michigan this season; saw two rotation players, leading scorer Niah Rhodes (16.4 points in 2023-24) and Amyah Maxwell, transfer out of the program (Rhodes moved to Tennessee, Maxwell to GRC); and, a week before the postseason, lost senior sharpshooter Kate Baker to an ACL injury.

After losing three of their last four games in the regular season, Douglass ripped off seven straight postseason victories — most of them in dominating fashion. The Broncos who fell in the state semifinals on Saturday should be the same Broncos who take the floor this winter when the season begins anew; Baker was the program’s lone senior.

Baker after the game joined eighth grader Tamia Waide, who led Douglass with 11 points, four assists and three blocks, and Jaelee Knowles, a sophomore forward whose combination of length and athleticism are unlike anyone in the 11th Region. Both will play Division I basketball someday and should keep Douglass not just in region contention but also the statewide conversation for the foreseeable future.

“They both work incredibly hard,” Baker said. “Tamia’s got four more years ahead of her, Jaelee’s got two. They’re playing on the biggest stage against a team full of seniors. I’m just incredibly proud of them and I think their future is so bright.”

The last time a city school played in the Girls’ Sweet 16 finals was 2007. Lexington Christian Academy defeated Iroquois that season, capping a run of three straight state titles by city schools; Lexington Catholic won each of the two years prior.

Henry Clay, which won it all in 1990, is the only Lexington public school that’s won a state championship. Lafayette is the only other Lexington public school to have appeared in the finals, falling to Laurel County in 1979.

Paul Laurence Dunbar won the city’s most recent Boys’ Sweet 16 title in 2016.

Sacred Heart rolls

Danville Christian Academy hung around for a quarter, but a bludgeoning 20-4 run helped Sacred Heart put away the 12th Region upstarts in the first half.

The Warriors (27-8) pulled to within 13-11 on a bucket by Grace Mbugua as the second quarter got underway. Valkyries star ZaKiyah Johnson failed to connect on a shot on the other end but grabbed her own rebound, saved it from going out of bounds and then got the ball back and gathered herself for a 3-pointer from the corner. That ignited the run.

DCA managed to put a sizable dent in the final margin after trailing by 25 midway through the third quarter, at one point getting within 12 points, but it couldn’t complete the comeback as it did against Henderson County in Friday’s quarterfinals.

Sacred Heart (34-3) on Saturday night looked to add to its state-record title streak. Qualifying for the finals made Sacred Heart the first school in Kentucky basketball history, boys or girls, to play in five straight championship games (Lexington Catholic’s girls played in four straight finals from 2003-2006).

To win it, the top-ranked team will have to fend off a No. 2 squad that’ll be slightly more rested.

“I’m excited about tonight because I think we’re gonna get the matchup everybody wanted,” Sacred Heart head coach Donna Moir said.

Johnson, an LSU signee, scored 15 points and grabbed 13 rebounds for the Valkyries. Tootie Jordan nearly had a triple-double for them, ending with 12 points, eight assists and eight rebounds.

DCA’s Grace Mbugua, a 6-foot-5 senior who’s headed to Louisville, had 17 points, 14 rebounds and five blocks, all game highs.