The Germantown Academy girls traveled to the Academy of Notre Dame last Friday afternoon, seeking a basketball victory that would give them a chance to share the Inter-Ac League championship with the host Irish.

Instead, the Notre Dame ladies clinched the 2026 title outright with a 58-43 win that lifted them to an 11-0 league record and lowered the Patriots to 7-3.

With only a rematch with Agnes Irwin left on their league schedule, the Irish could no longer be caught by any Inter-Ac rivals. The Patriots still had road games against Episcopal Academy and Penn Charter left on their agenda.

This season’s first encounter between GA and Notre Dame, which occurred at GA on Jan. 16, followed a familiar pattern that had dogged the Patriots in games against tough teams. They fell far behind early, then later played much better while mounting a furious rally that came up a little bit short.

In that mid-January contest, Notre Dame was already ahead by 20 points a minute into the second quarter. Germantown charged back to cut the lead to four points late in the fourth quarter but ultimately fell, 46-40.

Last week’s rematch was different, with the visiting Patriots going ahead by five points early on. Notre Dame rallied to win the first quarter, 16-11, and the Irish were still up by five points at halftime, 26-21.

The hosts extended their lead later on, but the Patriots were back within five (41-36) a few minutes into the fourth quarter. This time, instead of making the Irish sweat going down the stretch, GA was outscored 17-7 the rest of the way.

Sylvie Harrington, GA’s Gettysburg-bound senior forward, led the Patriots with a 14-point performance and helped her team seize that early advantage. Freshman point guard Sam Kollock started things off with a three-pointer from the top of the key. Then Harrington knocked down two treys from opposite sides of the floor.

Three-and-a-half minutes in, the visitors were up 9-4, with Notre Dame getting its points from 6’3” junior center Grace Nasr and senior forward Alex Gillin. The Irish chipped away until Germantown’s margin was down to one point, at 11-10. Then, in the last minute of the first quarter, Notre Dame’s Riley Davis scored three times from the paint, the last time off of a steal.

Davis, a junior point guard who has committed to Penn State to play lacrosse, had put her team up 16-11 at the quarter. She scored again at the start of the second stanza, and when her classmate Riley Mackey hit a “three,” GA called time-out, facing a 10-point shortfall (21-11) with 6:31 remaining in the first half.

After that, junior forward Jo Owens and sophomore guard Molly Beggs came off the GA bench to hit three-point field goals, and Harrington and junior Claire McKee made layups that helped tighten the score to 26-21 by the intermission.

GA junior guard Emma Seckinger scored on a drive at the start of the third quarter to make it a three-point game, but the Irish separated again with a 7-1 burst. The period ended at 39-32, and after Davis scored for the leaders at the start of the fourth round, GA’s Owens answered with a basket off of a rebound. McKee was fouled with 5:02 left on the clock and made two free throws. The tally was now 41-36, but GA would get no closer than five points.

Later, the Irish had grown the lead back to double digits when a McKee layup made it 48-40, but then Notre Dame finished the game with a 10-3 run.

The Irish got powerful performances from their junior standouts, as Davis came away with 24 points and Nasr with 16. Harrington was GA’s only scorer in double figures, and was followed by McKee, with eight points, and Seckinger, with seven.

Notre Dame appeared to be well on the way to repeating as undefeated Inter-Ac champions. In 2024, the Irish and Patriots had finished in a three-way tie for first place with Penn Charter.