Notre Dame sets Girls' Sweet 16 single-game record for threes made, Taylor County also wins

The 2026 Clark’s Pump-N-Shop KHSAA Girls’ Sweet 16 tipped off on Wednesday, as Frederick Douglass and Assumption cruised to the second round in the first session of games. The second and final session of the day treated us to two more matchups between some of the best teams in the state.

Notre Dame shoots its way to dominant 77-38 win over Pikeville

It was 8-7 Notre Dame with 1:27 to go in the first quarter, but after being sent to the free throw line, the Pandas went on an 11-0 run against Pikeville to end the period, making it 19-7 through one. They forced turnovers and made threes to get out to the early lead, which put them in a great spot the rest of the way.

Things only continued to get worse for the Panthers as Notre Dame ended the second quarter on an 8-0 run in just under two minutes of play. The craziest part is that senior Emma Holtzapfel (17) and junior Sarah Young (16) combined for 33 of their 36 first-half points. A fellow junior, Amelia Stallard, joined in on the fun and tallied all of her 19 points in the second half while hitting five of her six three-point attempts.

The Pandas led 36-16 through the first 16 minutes of action — their largest lead of the game at the time. They had almost as many points at the half as they had in their win over Holy Cross (Covington) in the 9th Region Championship (40).

Pikeville didn’t stand much of a fighting chance the entire game, trailing 57-30 at the end of the third quarter before ultimately losing 77-38. Senior guard Kylie Alvin did manage to put up 21 points, four rebounds and three assists on Wednesday, doing everything she could in her final game as a Panther.

Notre Dame went 17-26 (65%) from beyond the arc in the blowout win, officially breaking the Girls’ Sweet 16 record for threes made in a single game. If the Pandas can keep shooting like that, then they’ll have virtually no problems as they make a hopeful run to the title game.

Taylor County ekes out 60-58 victory over West Jessamine

West Jessamine scored the first points of the game, but Taylor County would follow that up with a 14-0 run. At the end of the first quarter, the Lady Cardinals led 19-8. At one point during the period, West Jessamine failed to score for over four minutes.

Taylor County continued to hit shots, but instead of faltering and letting the score get entirely out of hand, West Jessamine fought back to make it 34-23 at the half. Obviously, the Colts would have preferred to not be down double-digits when the ball was tipped, but considering they were once down by 17, an 11-point deficit wasn’t all that bad.

The Colts must’ve carried a similar mentality into the second half because after slowly cutting into the Taylor County lead, they were down by just one point as it was a 41-40 game at the end of the third quarter.

For really the first time in this year’s Girls’ Sweet 16, the winner wasn’t already decided heading into the final frame. Of course, in the end, Taylor County escaped with the 60-58 victory.

Taylor County will take on Notre Dame on Friday at 1:30 p.m. ET. The Lady Cardinals have won six consecutive games, while Notre Dame hasn’t lost since Feb. 14 against George Rogers Clark, winning eight games in that stretch.

It should be a good one when the two teams play for a spot in the Semifinals.