Girls’ Sweet 16 final: It’s No. 1 George Rogers Clark against No. 2 Assumption
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- No. 1 George Rogers Clark and No. 2 Assumption meet for first state title chance.
- Assumption advanced behind Ashlinn James and timely 3s from Jaida Allen
- Clark opened the semifinal with a 23-6 blitz and had a 23-game win streak
No. 1 and No 2 will square off in the final game of the Clark’s Pump-N-Shop Girls’ Basketball Sweet 16 state tournament.
Assumption and George Rogers Clark will meet at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Rupp Arena. Whoever’s crowned will be a first-time Kentucky girls basketball champion.
The Rockets (27-5) knocked out Taylor County to secure their first berth in the finals since 1999.
Clark (32-2), which fell in last year’s final, made it back with a victory over Simon Kenton in the afternoon’s second semifinal.
Each team features a finalist for this season’s Miss Basketball award with Assumption’s Ashlinn James and Clark’s Teigh Yeast nominated as their respective regions’ co-player of the year award winners by the Kentucky Association of Basketball Coaches. That honor will be announced at a banquet at Lexington’s Griffin Gate Marriot on March 22.
The Girls’ Sweet 16 championship will be settled before the night is out. Here’s more about the path each took to the tipoff.
Assumption 48, Taylor County 29
The Rockets, ranked No. 2 in the state in the final Kentucky Media Elite 16 poll heading into the postseason, led for all but 15 seconds against the Cards (29-7).
Jaida Allen, a senior who entered having scored just four points through two state tournament games, hit 3-pointers on consecutive possessions to answer a single layup by Kennedy Deener that momentarily put Taylor County on top.
Allen finished with 10 points and a team-high plus-21.
“Jaida could start and be the leading scorer on any team in the state,” Assumption coach Caryn Kovatch said. “She has accepted her role — being a great passer, a great screener, whatever the team needs, she’s the best teammate. Tonight we needed her to score, and she said, ‘OK, I will.’”
It was a tight one at halftime. Despite the brief absence of Deener, a star freshman who suffered a nose injury, Taylor County — ranked No. 9 in the same poll — kept it close throughout the first half and trailed 23-17 at the break.
Then, the Cardinals didn’t score in the third quarter. By the time they rediscovered their stroke in the fourth, the Rockets’ lead was insurmountable.
Cardinals coach Donnie Swiney liked the looks they were getting out of the locker room. Assumption attempted just three more shots than Taylor County in the third, but the Rockets made almost half of theirs (5 for 11 vs. 0 for 8).
“When the ball goes in the hole it hides a lot of mistakes, makes everything else look good,” Swiney said. “The ball didn’t go in the hole. They deserve a lot of the credit because of the pressure they put on us.”
Ashlinn James, Assumption’s Miss Basketball finalist who is headed to Indiana, had a game-high 15 points, seven rebounds, three assists and two steals for the Rockets.
Assumption fell to Lexington Catholic in its only previous championship game appearance. Twenty-seven years later, it’ll have another chance to bring a first-place trophy back to Louisville
“It’s just amazing to have an atmosphere like this, coaches and teammates who believe in you. It’s amazing,” James said through tears.
George Rogers Clark 66, Simon Kenton 40
Clark set the tone with a 23-6 first-quarter blitz to advance to another state tournament showdown with a 7th Region champion.
“Three-hundred sixty-five days ago, we expected to be back in this position,” Clark coach Robbie Graham said. “This is where we wanted to be, and we talked about it from the moment we walked off the court last year until this moment.”
In 2025, Sacred Heart rallied in the final minute to defeat the Cards for its fifth straight state title. It also eliminated Clark in the first round in 2024, in the 2023 semifinals and in the 2022 quarterfinals.
In those instances, Clark often was considered the second-best team in the field behind the dynastic Valkyries. This year, the Cards entered the tournament ranked No. 1, but were not as prohibitive a favorite as Sacred Heart had been prior to ZaKiyah Johnson’s graduation.
Clark defeated the Valkyries this season but so did Assumption — handily — in the 7th Region championship. The Rockets also beat Clark 61-56 in a triple-overtime thriller in Louisville on Jan. 8.
“Throughout the course of the season, I think we both have improved,” Graham said. “We’ve developed a little more depth than we had back then, which’ll help us, and I think they’ve changed some things in their lineup. Their coach has done a great job. They’re very talented. It’s going to be a 32-minute war.”
The Cards have won 23 straight games since that defeat, their only one to a Kentucky team this season. Only three of the wins in that streak — at Sacred Heart (76-59), a home game against Portsmouth (Ohio) (56-51 in OT) and a 55-46 rally against North Laurel in the state tournament’s first round — were closely contested.
Kennedy Stamper had 18 points and five steals to lead Clark. Three others — Jylin Edmonson (14), Teigh Yeast (12) and Kyleigh Chestnut (10) — finished in double figures.
Brynli Pernell and Bella Ober scored 12 apiece to pace the Pioneers (33-3).
Saturday night’s appearance will be Clark’s fifth in the title game and fourth in the modern era (since 1975). The Cardinals are 0-4.
“We’re going to chase it with everything in us,” Graham said. “Every ounce of blood, sweat and tears.”
This story was originally published March 14, 2026 at 4:35 PM.
