Assumption coach Caryn Kovatch will not downplay how good her team is. (Larry)
Assumption is fun to watch play — unless you are playing against the Rockets.
Assumption beat 1st Region champion Calloway County 72-35 for its 14th straight victory at the Clark’s Pump-N-Shop Girls’ Basketball Sweet 16® Wednesday afternoon in Rupp Arena.
Calloway was 33-2 coming into the game and had a 3,000-point scorer in Sayler Lowe and 2,000-point scorer in Jaidan Koch. They were a combined 2-for-9 from the field and had 10 points — and they are both Division I signees.
Assumption coach Caryn Kovatch said she was “ready to jump out of my shoes with excitement” after the win and was “overwhelmed” with pride in her team.
“These girls are special. They play with love and heart. They are relentless and we are going to be tough to beat,” she said.
Coaches usually are not near that cocky/confident in a postgame press conference. Is Kovatch just that swaggy or trying to make her players believe that is true?
“A little bit of both,” she laughed and said. “There is no downplaying who we are. You have got to have swag but you have got to believe it first.”
Indiana signee Ashlinn James had 22 points, five rebounds and two assists for the Rockets on her birthday. Se’Rae Bundrent-Palmer added 18 points, two assists and one steal.
Assumption was 26 of 51 from the field and 5-for-12 from 3. Calloway was 11-for-36 from the field and 1-for-11 from 3. The Rockets forced 19 turnovers that led to 25 points and won the rebounding battle 31-18 that led to 18 second chance points.
Kovatch admits sometimes she wonders what opposing coaches think about trying to defend her athletic, fast team. But on defense Assumption is even more relentless.
“I wouldn’t want to play them, and I have played against a lot of people,” the Assumption coach said. “They are all track champions. They are humble with no ego. You find teams that have an edge but have ego. We don’t.”
Calloway coach Kirsten Collins could not fault her team’s effort.
“We played hard. We never took a play off,” she said. “We gave it all we had.”
Against Assumption, not many teams will have enough even at their best to stay with the Rockets non-stop pressure on both ends of the court.
“They are very athletic. When they get to the pain, they finish every well,” Collins said. “They pass well. They find each other. They finish around the rim. They are a very good team. They just picked apart the spot in our defense. They were beating us on the glass. They kind of pushed us around in that aspect. They were flying to the boards.”
Lowe said not a single Region 1 team played man-to-man defense against Calloway, but the Lakers had played other teams during the season that did. However, none play it like Assumption.
“They are an aggressive team. They pack the paint the second you get it (the ball). We struggled making shots and struggled getting the ball outside to shoot,” Lowe said.
Now Frederick Douglass, a 44-23 winner over Henderson County, will get to test Assumption. Frederick Douglass lost 67-35 to Assumption on Dec. 9. Assumption has won 14 in a row since a 68-66 loss to five-time defending state champion Sacred Heart on Jan. 18 but avenged that loss with 69-51 win in 7th Region title game.
“They are fast, athletic, want to run and be physical,” Kovatch said. “Our strategy is not going to be any different in the postseason. It’s going to be the same for the next three games.”
Catch that? Next three games means Assumption will be playing in the state title game Saturday night and it’s hard to see that not happenin.
