Sophomore Se’Rae Bundrent-Palmer averages 12.4 points per game for Assumption. (Rise Up Sports/Alyx White Photo)
Assumption coach Caryn Kovatch “intentionally” made her schedule to prepare her team for postseason play and hopefully a trip to the Clark’s Pump-N-Shop Girls Basketball Sweet 16 that starts in Rupp Arena today.
Assumption (24-5) lost only one game to a Kentucky team. That was five-time defending state champion Sacred Heart 68-66 on Jan. 18, but Assumption avenged that loss in the 7th Region title game with a 69-51 win.
Now Assumption gets to play 1st Region champion Calloway County today at 1:30 p.m. Calloway (33-2) is led by Sayler Lowe, a 6-foot senior averaging 19.6 points per game. She is a North Alabama signee and has led the Lakers in scoring and rebounding each of the last three seasons and has over 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds in her six-year career. Jaidan Koch, a 5-foot-9 guard, has scored over 2,000 points also and averages 17.6 points per game — she is a 40 percent shooter from 3 the last two years. She is also an all-state cross country and track runner.
The teams scrimmaged before the season started. It was 11-10 after the first quarter but Kovatch said her team held Calloway to only nine points the rest of the game.
“We were throwing all kinds of defenses at them and trying different man, matchup zones,” the Assumption coach said. “They do bring a 1-2 punch. They have size and quickness. Both players can hit the 3 and play with intensity we really respect. it go-go-go all the time. We know how to play those two but it is more how we play.”
Calloway County has a win over 5th Region champion Taylor County and lost 46-40 to 2nd Region champion Henderson County.
Assumption is led by Ashlinn James, a 5-foot-7 senior averaging 12.2 points per game. She’s a four-star recruit who has been rated as the No. 64 senior in the nation by ESPN HoopGurlz. She signed with Indiana as part of the sixth-ranked recruiting class in the nation.
“It’s hard to stay with Assumption for four quarters. We have a team full of athletes that want to run and attack the whole time and they are a lot of fun,” the Assumption coach said.
Assumption plays five seniors, but sophomore Se’Rae Bundrent-Palmer averaged 12.4 points per game and sophomore Kylie Moore, who averages 7.4 points per game is “probably our most competitive athlete on the team,” according to Kovatch.
“She always looks happy, but she is a competitor. She has won the Kentucky state high jump since being in the seventh grade. Her goal is to dunk, and she has been dunking with a softball,’” Kovatch said. “Kylie ignites our defense. She is also hard to guard.”
Assumption beat North Laurel 51-37, Frederick Douglass 67-35, Notre Dame 45-27, West Jessamine 67-51 and George Rogers Clark 61-56 — all state tournament teams — this season.
“I believe defense and rebounding win games; I got a team smart enough to be able to change up and keep other teams on their toes with our quickness. I am hell bent on playing man (defense). I think we are really hard to match at all five positions,” Kovatch said.
