Franklin-Simpson High School send Lady Cats off to state tournament

SIMPSON COUNTY, Ky. – On Tuesday afternoon, students and staff at Franklin-Simpson High School gathered together to celebrate the Lady Cats basketball team one last time before they travel to Lexington for the 2025 Clark’s Pump-N-Shop Girls Basketball Sweet 16 tournament.

The team is just a few days removed from taking down Metcalfe County in the 4th Region Championship to clinch their first title since 2009, and the time leading up to play in Rupp Arena hasn’t been solely celebration, as the Lady Cats now have a larger goal in mind.

“[We’ve been] super focused,” head coach Ashley Taylor said. “Execution is such a big part of this time of the year. I’ve been preaching it for the last couple of months now, and so that’s what the last two days of practice have been all about. I feel good, I thought we had two good days of practice, we’ll get up there tonight, get us some great food, we’ll watch some more film on [George Rogers Clark], things like that, and get ready to play tomorrow.”

Before hopping on the bus and heading to the home of another Wildcat team (the University of Kentucky), the school held a sendoff to show their support for their girls’ basketball squad, and Coach Taylor explained that the school pride is a whole other level of motivation in big moments such as this.

“ Definitely, man, that’s what makes Franklin so special. Everybody rallies behind everybody, and so our girls did something amazing and it’s great to be able to celebrate it with their peers,” Taylor said. “We’re a small community that really embraces each other and so getting to have this is great for our team. [We’ve got] great vibes headed up there, we enjoyed celebrating, but now we’re ready to get down to business.”

Game time in the heart of the bluegrass between the Lady Cats and the George Rogers Clark Lady Cardinals is set for 5 p.m. local time.

Make sure to stay tuned in here at News 40 Sports for in-game updates and postgame recaps of Franklin-Simpson embarks on a quest for the state crown.