TOUGH END: GRC’s late barrage ends Lady Cats’ season

Published 11:25 am Thursday, March 13, 2025

By Micheal Compton

LEXINGTON — The Franklin-Simpson Lady Cats survived one flurry, but could not escape a late barrage — falling to George Rogers Clark 64-42 in the opening round of the KHSAA Girls’ Sweet 16 on Wednesday at Rupp Arena.

Playing in the state tournament for the first time since 2009, Franklin-Simpson (28-3) overcame a slow start to have a chance heading into the fourth quarter — only for the No. 2 ranked team in the state to overwhelm the Lady Cats with a 28-point fourth quarter.

“That was a high-level game we just played,” Franklin-Simpson coach Ashley Taylor said. “GRC is a great basketball team. I knew they would come out and throw an early punch at us. I wish we would have handled it a little better than we did, but I couldn’t be more proud of my team and how they responded. There are not too many teams that could respond that way being down to the No. 2 team in the state.”

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The Lady Cats led once, after a 3-pointer from Jasmine Savage made the score 3-2, but missed shots in the paint and turnovers led to transition baskets for George Rogers Clark. The Cardinals scored 10 straight to make the score 12-3 less than five minutes in and led 16-9 after one.

“There are always jitters when you take that next step up,” Taylor said. “We kind of talk about it in seasons and this was a season we’ve never been to. There is always a little bit of nerves. We came out, we had that layup that Lareesha (Cawthorn) missed there at the beginning. I think if she made that it would have helped settled us in a little earlier, but she didn’t. We were still able to recover from it.”

GRC scored the first six in the second quarter on three transition layups from Jailenn Green to push the lead to 22-9. The Lady Cats were able to get it down to 24-15 after a three-point play from Kloie Smith to trim the deficit to nine before the Cardinals scored the final five points in the half to make the score 29-15.

Franklin-Simpson got four quick points from Lyniah Brown to open the third quarter to get the GRC advantage down to 10. It remained a 10-point deficit until late in the third, when Franklin had a seven-point flurry to cut the margin to 35-32. The run included a pass in to Cawthorn that was tipped up in the air and went into the basket that seemed to shift the tide completely to the Lady Cats.

“We wanted to win,” Cawthorn said. “We knew we were down, but the game doesn’t end until the buzzer. We did miss a lot of shots in the beginning, but we were executing and guarding on defense and it turned over to our offense like it usually does.”

George Rogers Clark ended the third quarter with a free throw, then opened the fourth with back-to-back layups off turnovers from Teigh Yeast. Franklin-Simpson was still within seven points with 5:12 left, but an eight-point surge doubled the lead and GRC continued to pull away from there.

GRC was 9-for-11 from the field and 10-for-11 from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter.

“Hats off to Franklin-Simpson,” GRC coach Robbie Graham said. “That’s a very tough, hard-nosed, physical team. We knew it was going to be a physical game.

“I am proud of our kids. We had that lull there in the third quarter. We came out the fourth quarter, kind of settled down a little bit and finished the game out strong.”

Green led George Rogers Clark with 22 points, while Kennedy Stamper added 15 points.

Cawthorn had 14 points and 10 rebounds, while Smith added 10 points.

The loss ends a memorable run for the Franklin-Simpson seven player senior class. The Lady Cats advanced to two region finals in the last four years, culminating with the program’s first region title since 2009 this season. Franklin-Simpson finished 58-5 over the last two seasons, including 39-1 against region opponents — with the lone loss to Bowling Green in last year’s region semifinals.

“These girls have poured everything into it,” Taylor said. “A lot of them don’t play much other than basketball, so they poured everything into our program. They are such great role models. They are great in the classroom and they just brought Franklin back to a place that it used to be. We used to be really good back in the day. Sixteen years ago, our team was here. That’s a long time to go in between. These girls knew that they wanted to be the next team that got here. They set that goal early on.

“For it to come with these seven seniors I have here is amazing.”

Savage, one of the seven seniors, said she was proud to be part of the program’s resurgence.

“I think looking back on it that it will be bittersweet, but it will be more sweet than bitter,” Savage said. “We know how hard we worked the past four years. Just to be able to accomplish the goal of winning a region — of course we wanted the state, but winning the region that was top on our list. Getting here and competing with one of the top teams in the state is not a thing to hold our head about. I think looking back on it that it is going to be a good thing and something we can remember.”

FSHS 9 6 17 10 — 42

GRCHS 16 13 7 28 — 64

FS — Cawthorn 14, Smith 10, Savage 9, Ray 5, Brown 4.

GRC — Green 22, Stamper 15, Byars 9, Yeast 8, Chestnut 3, Stakelin 3, Jones 2, Strode 2.

I am a sports reporter and movie critic for the Bowling Green Daily News.

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