Bryant, Lyon spark Lady Titans past Lady Panthers, reach district finals

LUCASVILLE — The Notre Dame Lady Titans got their offense clicking early with great performances from Jasya Bryant and Kennedy Lyon on Wednesday night to beat the Clay Lady Panthers 45-39 in the Division 7 District Semifinals at Valley High School.

"It was a great effort. I knew it was going to be a nail-biter because they beat us by a total of 5 points," said Notre Dame coach Jason Emnett. "And honestly, everything was clicking and hitting some shots early. And honestly, (Clay) played great. I knew they'd make a run late on us."

Notre Dame's offense was paced by Bryant with 20 points and Lyon with 12. Bryant also notched a double-double with 10 rebounds and had 5 steals in win.

The Lady Panthers were led by Emma Emnett and Sophia Craft with 12 points each.

Smith threw praise at the scoring duo for their performances.

"If (Kennedy) gets hot and you leave her open, she's gonna drain the three. She always has the green light to shoot the ball," said Smith.

"(Jaysa) is a special player. We go by what Jaysa does. And right now it's a lot better for us, she's believing in her teammates and kids are stepping up and hitting shots when they get their chance."

Kailee Ogier was able to dig the ball out of a scrum on the floor and get a pass off to a wide open Lyon for a 3-pointer to put the Lady Titans up 11-3.

The Lady Panthers rallied back near the end of the quarter, cutting the deficit down to two on back-to-back steals from Craft.

But Bryant sank two free throws on the other end to give the Lady Titans a 13-9 advantage after one quarter.

Scoring was at a premium in the second quarter for both teams, but Notre Dame was still able to extend their lead and outscore the Lady Panthers 9-4.

After a scoreless two and a half minutes, Bryant scored the first points of the quarter with a circus shot from the low block.

The junior guard also finished off the half with another spectacular shot to end the half, launching a 3-pointer on the run from 30 feet away to give the Lady Titans a 22-13 lead at the break.

Smith felt the all-around play of the defense to take away Clay's scorers was the key contributor to building up their lead.

"We're a 1-3-1 team, that's pretty much what we've done all year. And I felt like we needed to do something different," said Smith. "I thought Layla did a phenomenal job on Emnett, she's a great player. But I really thought we communicated so well."

Notre Dame began to pull away in the third and grab the momentum with a 11-1 scoring run over a two minute stretch.

Soards got the run started with a trey from the top of the key following a kickout pass from Bryant. Then Sophia Phillips hit from behind the arc in transition.

Lyon capped off the run with a triple from the corner to make the score 33-14 with 3:40 showing on the clock.

Notre Dame would build to its biggest lead of the game at 47-27 on a pair of free throws from Bryant.

The scoring chances that weren't there for three quarters began to open up for the Lady Panthers in the fourth.

Clay would start chipping away at Notre Dame's lead thanks to some key plays from Emnett with a pull-up 3-pointer and a steal for a layup.

Ava Demorest later came up with a pair of steals that were converted into points, but time would run out on the Lady Panthers' attempt at some late game heroics and Notre Dame would earn the victory.

With the win, Notre Dame improved to 11-11 on the season and will face the Green Lady Bobcats in the district championship on Saturday afternoon back at Valley. Clay finishes 17-7, marking their best season in 12 years.

and loses just one senior, albeit a big piece, in Sophia Craft, to the 2026-27 version of the roster. Craft averaged 16 points and nine rebounds in 2025-26, became the eighth player to score 1,000 points in her career and finished as Clay's all-time career rebounding leader with over 800 in her four years as a Lady Panther.

Notre Dame 13 9 17 6 = 45

Ports. Clay 9 4 8 18 = 56

NOTRE DAME (11-11): Emma Kingery 0 0 0-0 0, Audrey Bach 1 0 2-4 4, Jaysa Bryant 4 1 9-12 20, Bella Rush 0 0 0-0 0, Kennedy Lyon 0 4 0-0 12, Kailee Ogier 0 0 1-2 1, Sophie Phillips 0 1 0-0 3, Alayla Soards 1 1 0-0 5. Totals: 6 7 12-18 45. Rebounds: (O-12, D-18) 30 (Bryant 10, Phillips 9, Lyon 4). Assists: 3. Steals: 7 (Bryant 5). Blocks: 2 (Kingery, Bryant). Fouls: 17. Fouled out: Soard (4th, 4:45).

PORTSMOUTH CLAY (17-7): Ava Demorest 2 0 2-2 6, Emma Emnett 2 2 2-2 12, Mia Lunsford 1 0 1-2 3, Caroline Ridenour 0 0 0-0 0, Maddie Penix 2 0 0-0 4, Sophia Craft 1 2 4-8 12. Totals: 9 4 9-14 39. Rebounds: (O-6, D-13) 19 (Penix 8, Lunsford 3, Craft 3). Assists: 4 (Emnett 2). Steals: 7 (Demorest 3, Emnett 2). Blocks: 6 (Penix 4, Emnett, Craft). Fouls: 20. Fouled out: None.