Sacred Heart rallies past Clark in final minute to claim fifth straight Girls’ Sweet 16
For Sacred Heart’s ZaKiyah Johnson, the last of her four state championship wins with the Valkyries might have been the best, she said.
But that’s not because of what the remarkable McDonald’s All-American senior forward did in the No. 1 Valkyries’ 65-60 victory over No. 2 George Rogers Clark on Saturday.
The Clark’s Pump-N-Shop Girls’ Basketball Sweet 16 finals battle with Clark in front of a Cardinals-leaning crowd of 4,987 fans in Rupp Arena featured eight ties and nine lead changes.
Sacred Heart (35-3) trailed by four points at halftime and by three points with 52 seconds left.
It looked like the Valkyries’ historic run dominating Kentucky girls high school basketball could be over.
But Johnson and her teammates relished the challenge and rose to it to win the Valkyries’ record fifth straight state title and ninth overall.
“I would rather win it out this way,” said Johnson, who scored 15 of her game-high 21 points in the second half on the way to her unprecedented fourth Girls’ Sweet 16 most valuable player honor. “Last year and the year before that, I’m pretty sure we were up by like 15 and 10. It just feels a lot better when you’re fighting for it the whole time and you know that win is genuine. ... It kind of feels like freedom after. It’s just a sense of relief, and it felt great.”
The LSU signee helped keep Sacred Heart in the game in the second half, but her teammates played the most vital roles in the final minute.
Down 60-57 after Clark guard Jailenn Green scored the last two of her team-high 19 points with 52 seconds left, Sacred Heart’s sophomore point guard Amirah “Tootie” Jordan drove into the lane and drew the fifth foul against one of Clark’s key starters, Teigh Yeast.
Jordan made both free throws to trim Sacred Heart’s deficit to 60-59 with 43 seconds left.
Sacred Heart still needed a stop and got one on a Clark turnover forced by the Valkyries’ half-court defense.
The ball spilled to Jordan, who got fouled again. She made her first free throw to tie the game 60-60 with 37 seconds left and sat through a Clark timeout to freeze her second attempt. Jordan made it anyway for a 61-60 Sacred Heart lead.
“As a team, I think we really stayed poised,” Jordan said. “Z had some great words of encouragement to not let our head down. Because the game isn’t over until the horn rings.”
With a chance to go back in front, Clark turned the ball over again instead. The Cardinals had to foul Jordan once more and send her to the line with 17 seconds to go. Two makes could extend Sacred Heart’s lead to three points. Jordan made one.
But Valkyries freshman Riley Gilvin flew to the errant second shot and kept the possession alive. Gilvin missed the tip-in, but senior Morgan Frey arrived in time to get another offensive rebound and got fouled.
Frey had only made 54.7 percent of her free throws on the season. She went 6-for-6 against Clark and made her last two to put Sacred Heart up 64-60 with 14 seconds left. She finished with six points and a game-high 10 rebounds.
“Yeah, I never make my free throws. But I was like, ‘I’m not losing this game,’ Frey said. “It was my last game ever playing for (head coach) Donna (Moir) at Sacred Heart and I was just giving it my all. I knew I had to make them.”
Gilvin got her second rebound of the game on a desperation 3-pointer by Clark’s Ciara Byars. Gilvin made one of two foul shots to set the final score. Jordan finished with 19 points, four assists and went 11-for-13 from the free throw line.
“We came in at halftime down four and we’d turned the ball over like 14 times. … And I knew we didn’t play our best basketball in the first half,” Sacred Heart’s Moir said. “We made some big plays down the stretch. … We just really amped up our defense and stayed poised. I’m just really proud of them.”
For Clark (28-8), it was the Cardinals’ fourth straight state tournament loss to Sacred Heart. The Cardinals fell to the Valkyries in the first round last season, the semis in 2023 and the quarters in 2022.
Despite falling behind 12-3 in the early going Saturday, Clark rallied to lead 31-27 at halftime. Sophomore point guard Kennedy Stamper scored 13 points, including a pair of 3-pointers to go with three assists and three steals. Michigan signee Ciara Byars added nine points.
“We gave ourselves a shot. We were right there,” Clark coach Robbie Graham said. “It’s just a play here and a play there and when you’re playing them, you can’t afford any mistakes. You can’t have any breakdowns. You’ve got to take care of business and finish them off. … But our kids fought hard. I’m so proud of our kids and the effort they gave. They left it all out there.”
Notes
All-Tournament Team: Brooke Nichelson, North Laurel; Kennedy Deener, Taylor County; Atylia Green, Henderson County; Haylee Noel, Cooper; Tamia Waide and Jaelee Knowles, Frederick Douglass; Alaya Quisenberry and Grace Mbugua, Danville Christian; Kennedy Stamper, Ciara Byars and Jailenn Green, George Rogers Clark; Morgan Frey; Amirah “Tootie” Jordan and ZaKiyah Johnson (MVP), Sacred Heart.
Attendance: The finals crowd of 4,987 brought this year’s total four-day attendance to 33,190, the Girls’ Sweet 16’s best mark since 2022. The finals attendance was the best since 2019’s pre-COVID-19 championship game between Ryle and Southwestern, which drew 5,607.
