Sixteen things to get you ready for the 2022 Girls’ Sweet 16 basketball tournament in KY
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2022 Girls’ Sweet 16 basketball preview
Click below to view more content from the Lexington Herald-Leader and Kentucky.com previewing the girls’ state high school basketball tournament to be held March 9-12 in Rupp Arena in Lexington.
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The 2022 Mingua Beef Jerky Girls’ Sweet 16 begins Wednesday as teams from around the state will square off to see who will capture Kentucky high school basketball’s ultimate prize.
Here are 16 things to think about as Kentucky high school girls’ basketball’s state tournament returns:
1. Players of the year
This year’s tournament features four Miss Basketball candidates who were their respective region’s players of the year as voted on by the Kentucky Basketball Coaches Association.
▪ Amiya Jenkins of Anderson County, a 5-foot-11 guard committed to Kentucky, has helped lead the Bearcats to the tournament three years straight.
▪ Gracie Merkle of Bullitt East, a 6-6 center committed to Bellarmine, has led the state in field goal percentage each of the last two years and has made an unreal 71.7 percent of her field goals this season. This is also the Chargers’ third straight visit.
▪ Josie Gilvin of Sacred Heart, a 5-11 winger committed to Western Kentucky, was last year’s state tournament most valuable player for her all-around hustle on offense and defense.
▪ Kaylee Banks of Letcher County Central, a 5-10 guard committed to Alice Lloyd College, has been her team’s leading scorer since her sophomore season. This is their second trip to Rupp in three years.
Miss Basketball voting has already taken place and the winner will be revealed March 20 at a live event in Lexington for the first time since the pandemic.
2. Freshmen phenoms
Sacred Heart’s ZaKiyah Johnson, a 6-0 guard/forward (17.8 ppg, 7.8 rpg) tops the list of talented freshman here as one of two Kentucky players to make the 2025 ESPN HoopGurlz Watch List. Clark County’s Ciara Byars (17.7 ppg, 7.4 rpg) took over the team lead in points and rebounds after starting all of her eighth-grade year at point guard. Meade County’s Peyton Bradley (19.4 ppg, 5 rpg) emerged last year as the Wave’s top offensive player.
3. Don’t forget
Some others to watch this week: Pikeville sophomore Trinity Rowe (16.1 ppg) has played point for four straight 15th Region champs; Cooper’s 6-2 junior forward Whitney Lind (16.9 ppg, 6.6 rpg) is on pace for more than 2,000 points in her career. McCracken County’s 6-0 junior winger Destiny Thomas, (17.9 ppg, 5.9 rpg) has returned to form after recovering from an ACL tear; Clark County’s 6-0 junior forward Brianna Byars (15.6 ppg) makes for a powerful one-two punch with her younger sister; and Bowling Green’s 5-10 junior forward Meadow Tisdale (15.6 ppg, 7.5 rpg) leads the Purples and is the sister of Kentucky football’s Vito Tisdale.
4. Returning teams
Nine teams who made the 2021 Sweet 16 are back for more, including defending champion Sacred Heart. Joining the Valkyries are Anderson County, Bethlehem, Bowling Green, Bullitt East, Franklin County, Henderson County, Pikeville and Southwestern.
5. Pencil these in for 2023 and beyond
A glance of the rosters and stats of several teams indicate full-fledged dynasties or ones in the works. Sacred Heart will graduate five seniors, but not their top four scorers. Pikeville remains a young team led by Rowe and fellow sophomore Kyera Thornsbury. In fact, much of this year’s field is led by a core of underclassmen, including Boyd County, Clark County, Cooper, Corbin, McCracken County and Southwestern.
6. Chance at history
Sacred Heart is the only state championship title holder in the field and has a chance to break a four-way tie for most titles all-time if it makes Saturday night’s finals. The Valkyries have five state championships, as do Ashland Blazer, Butler and now-closed Laurel County.
7. Déjà vu
Two of this year’s first-round matchups reprise games from last year’s tournament. Incredibly, the KHSAA’s blind draw again pitted 5th Region Bethlehem against 6th Region Bullitt East in the first round. The Banshees defeated the Chargers 70-65 in 2021. On the other side of the bracket, the 7th Region’s Sacred Heart drew the 8th Region’s Anderson County, a sequel to the 63-53 Valkyries’ 2021 semifinals win. Anderson County graduated a bigger part of last year’s production than Sacred Heart did.
8. First time here
Both Cooper and McCracken County are making their Girls’ Sweet 16 debuts. Cooper, established in 2008, was built to better accommodate Union’s growing population in northern Kentucky near Cincinnati. It’s one of four public high schools in the Boone County system.
Cooper knocked off sister school Ryle, a former state champion, in the 9th Region championship, improving the Jags’ all-time record against the Raiders to 5-24.
McCracken County, established in 2013, merged the small county schools of Heath, Lone Oak and Reidland surrounding Paducah. Its boys’ basketball team has made the state tournament three out of the last five years.
9. They are who we thought they were
The Herald-Leader Preseason Top 25 predicted 12 teams in this year’s field as among the best, according to our annual survey of coaches. Those included six top-10 teams. The preseason rankings: 1. Sacred Heart, 2. Anderson County, 3. Bullitt East, 6. Bowling Green, 8. Clark County, 10. Pikeville, 12. Franklin County, 13. Bethlehem, 15. Southwestern, 19. Henderson County, 20. Cooper, and 21. McCracken County.
10. Sizing them up now
Here’s how this year’s first-round matchups look competitively according to the latest Dave Cantrall Ratings. Games are sorted from tightest ratings matchup to biggest disparity. And, yes, the first few are ridiculous on paper, but there are no pushovers in Rupp this week.
▪ No. 1 Sacred Heart (86.2) vs. No. 3 Anderson County (84.7). Spread: 1.5 Cantrall points.
▪ No. 5 Cooper (83.8) vs. No. 10 Pikeville (80.8). Spread: 3.
▪ No. 4 McCracken County (84.1) vs. No. 11 Southwestern (80.1). Spread: 4.
▪ No. 7 Henderson County (82.7) vs.No. 13 Franklin County (77.4). Spread: 5.3.
▪ No. 2 Clark County (85.4) vs. No. 12 Corbin (77.5). Spread: 7.9.
▪ No. 6 Bullitt East (83.6) vs. No. 14 Bethlehem (74.5). Spread: 9.1.
▪ No. 7 Meade County (82.7) vs. No. 15 Boyd County (72.9). Spread: 9.8.
▪ No. 9 Bowling Green (81.5) vs. No. 16 Letcher County Central (63.7). Spread: 17.8.
In 2021, teams rated higher by Cantrall won seven of the eight first-round games. Eventual champion Sacred Heart was rated No. 7.
11. Toughest draw
It’s hard to believe anyone’s draw is tougher than Anderson County with its path blocked by No. 1 Sacred Heart, then, potentially, No. 2 Clark County with No. 5 Cooper or No. 9 Bowling Green possibly waiting in the semis.
12. The overdogs
No surprise here: It’s Sacred Heart. The Associated Press media rankings picked this Louisville Catholic academy as the state’s No. 1 team every week but one, the next to last, when Clark County briefly ascended to the top spot.
The Valkyries are loaded and have a potential future Miss Basketball candidate in each class — Triniti Ralston, junior; Reagan Bender, sophomore, and ZaKiyah Johnson, freshman, in addition to the senior Gilvin.
Sacred Heart lost only two games to in-state teams. Both losses came in overtime. And in both the Valkyries got into foul trouble with key players fouling out.
So, they’re not invulnerable. And they didn’t get any favors from the KHSAA’s blind draw, either.
13. The underdogs
Letcher County Central comes in as the lowest-rated team in the field after surviving a 53-52 overtime thriller against Owsley County in the 14th Region finals. The Cougars would have made it three straight trips to Rupp except for their four-overtime loss to Knott County Central in last year’s region championship.
The last time Letcher made state in 2020, it drew defending champion Ryle in the first round. This year it gets Bowling Green. The last 14th Region team to win a first-round game was Breathitt County in 2008.
14. Battle tested
According to the “opponents’ winning percentage” (OWP) compiled by the KHSAA’s RPI ratings, Bullitt East has faced the toughest schedule this year with an OWP of .68708. Next comes Sacred Heart with a .66589 and Cooper at .64463. By the same measure, Letcher County Central faced the easiest OWP in the field at .52299.
15. Top team stats
Scoring offense: Sacred Heart, 70.3 points per game. Scoring defense: Henderson County, 36.7 points against per game. Scoring margin: Sacred Heart, 29.5 points per game. Field goal percentage: Sacred Heart: 49.6 percent. Three-point field goal percentage: Anderson County: 40.2 percent. Free throw percentage: Anderson County: 72.3 percent.
16. Top individual stats
Scoring: Amiya Jenkins, Anderson County, 20.7 ppg. Rebounding: Rylee Theiss, Pikeville, 10 rpg. Field goal percentage: Gracie Merkle, Bullitt East, 71.7 percent. Three-point shooting: Peyton Bradley, Meade County, 3.6 makes per game. Three-point percentage: Trinity Rowe, Pikeville, 49.7 percent. Free throw percentage: Peyton Bradley, Meade County, 81 percent.
Girls’ Sweet 16
What: Sixteen-team tournament to decide Kentucky’s high school basketball state champion.
When: Wednesday through Saturday
Where: Rupp Arena
Tickets: Tickets available for purchase at KHSAA.org.
Girls’ Sweet 16 schedule
At Rupp Arena
Wednesday’s first-round games
11 a.m.: Boyd County (21-11) vs. Meade County (28-6)
1:30 p.m.: Bullitt East (30-4) vs. Bethlehem (23-7)
6 p.m.: McCracken County (31-1) vs. Southwestern (25-7)
8:30 p.m.: Henderson County (24-4) vs. Franklin County (27-7)
Thursday’s first-round games
11 a.m.: Bowling Green (28-7) vs. Letcher County Central (26-9)
1:30 p.m.: Pikeville (31-2) vs. Cooper (23-4)
6 p.m.: Corbin (25-6) vs. Clark County (30.2)
8:30 p.m.: Sacred Heart (32-3) vs. Anderson County (30-4)
Friday’s quarterfinals
11 a.m.: McCracken County-Southwestern winner vs. Henderson County-Franklin County winner.
1:30 p.m.: Bullitt East-Bethlehem winner vs. Boyd County-Meade County winner.
6 p.m.: Pikeville-Cooper winner vs. Bowling Green-Letcher County Central winner.
8:30 p.m.: Corbin-Clark County winner vs. Sacred Heart-Anderson County winner.
Saturday’s games
11 a.m.: Semifinal 1: Winners of Friday’s morning session.
1:30 p.m.: Semifinal 2: Winners of Friday’s evening session.
7 p.m.: Championship.
This story was originally published March 8, 2022 at 6:30 AM.
