‘We’re going home with this dub.’ How Douglass stunned girls No. 1 Sacred Heart
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Bennett, Knowles and Carr off the bench key Douglass’ upset of No. 1 Sacred Heart.
- Halftime adjustment sparked transition defense and fueled a 20-5 third-quarter run.
- Win marks program milestone; Broncos face No. 13 North Laurel then No. 5 Simon Kenton.
The social media updates from Frederick Douglass’ trip to Louisville for a showdown with No. 1 Sacred Heart on Friday night could scarcely be believed.
While the No. 6 Broncos, two-time 11th Region champions over the last three years and a Girls’ Sweet 16 state semifinalist last season, are no strangers to success, they have also routinely stumbled against the very best competition, like the nine-time state champion Valkyries.
But in leading off a top-tier girls-boys doubleheader at St. Xavier Friday, Douglass didn’t just beat Sacred Heart. The Broncos routed the commonwealth’s most dominant girls high school basketball program by a score of 83-63.
“We just told ourselves, ‘We’re going home with this dub,’ like, we’re not going to lose this game,” said junior forward Jaelee Knowles, who scored 20 points and grabbed 12 rebounds and four steals in addition to three blocks. “They beat us last year. We wanted that get-back. We came out with a lot of energy and we just played as a team. We were very in sync, … It was like we were one out there. We knew our defensive assignment. We knew what we had to do, and we went out there and we did it.”
Douglass senior point guard Mikalee “MK” Bennett led the Broncos with 24 points going up against Sacred Heart’s celebrated junior Amirah “Tootie” Jordan, a Herald-Leader second team all-state selection last season whose college offers include Western Kentucky.
Bennett did much of her damage driving into the paint and getting to the free throw line, where she made 10 of her 12 attempts. She embraced the big-game atmosphere.
‘It was packed. It was wild. It was a lot,” Bennett said. “We just need to stay calm, but have the same energy.”
Douglass led Sacred Heart 49-45 after a frenetic first half that saw both teams move rapidly up and down the court and shoot the lights out. Over the first two quarters, Sacred Heart made 56.7 percent of its shots, including five 3-pointers, while Douglass shot it at a 60.6 percent clip with three from long range, two of those by senior Reagan Gregonis in the first quarter.
Douglass blew open the game with a 20-5 run in the third quarter that included seven Sacred Heart turnovers for 11 Douglass points and the first two of four consecutive three pointers by junior Nia Carr off the bench. Carr alone outscored Sacred Heart 12-2 over a span of two-and-a-half minutes and finished with 14 points.
“She was very big. I’m glad,” Bennett said. “She took the right shots and they went in. I could tell she was very excited. I’m so proud of her for taking those shots. It’s all about confidence.”
Douglass coach Daryl Moberly credited a halftime adjustment his team executed during the breakaway.
“They had scored a lot in transition late in the first half. … We wanted to make sure that if we scored or they got a rebound, we wanted to have at least two or three girls back, at least by halfcourt, and that they were turning and looking for the ball,” Moberly said. “I think we slowed them down from that in transition.”
Douglass (18-3) also got significant contributions from freshman Tamia Waide, who scored 13 points and had a game-high seven assists, and junior forward Peighton Okorley, who pulled in five of her seven rebounds on the offensive glass and grabbed four steals.
“Defensively, everybody was clicking. Everybody was talking. Tonight the girls meshed well,” said Moberly, who had little clue his team’s sluggish 45-24 win at Bryan Station on Thursday would yield such an upset the next night out. “We had an ugly game yesterday, being that we hadn’t played since the 23rd of January. So we only practiced two days. We couldn’t throw it in the ocean last night against Bryan Station. It was good to see the ball go in tonight.”
Jordan led Sacred Heart (17-4) with 20 points. Riley Gilven and Tahri Wilson added 15 and 13 points, respectively. The Valkyries’ senior Marshall commit Brianna Wilkins was held to six points and four rebounds.
During Moberly’s six seasons, he’s never shied from a tough regular season schedule and has taken some lumps, including a 67-35 loss to No. 2 Assumption on Dec. 9 and a 70-67 loss to No. 3 George Rogers Clark on Dec. 20.
Douglass has lined up against Sacred Heart each of the last three campaigns, going 0-3, including a 77-61 defeat last February to the team that later won its fifth consecutive state championship.
Friday’s win easily ranks as the biggest in Frederick Douglass’ brief nine-season history. A come-from-behind home win over then-No. 6 George Rogers Clark in 2023 comes close as does last season’s upset of then-No. 3 Simon Kenton in the first round of the Girls’ Sweet 16.
Those Pioneers broke Sacred Heart’s 92-game win streak over in-state opponents. Douglass, Cooper and Simon Kenton are now the only Kentucky teams to beat the Valkyries over the last four seasons. No Lexington team had beaten Sacred Heart since Lexington Catholic did it on Jan. 8, 2008.
“This is the biggest win I’ve ever had and the biggest win for this program at Frederick Douglass for sure,” Moberly said. “I’m happy for this program and happy for Lexington to see that girls basketball is on the come up around here, man. We can come out and compete with some of the best teams in the state.”
Douglass didn’t have much time to celebrate its milestone win. The Broncos faced No. 13 North Laurel at George Rogers Clark in Winchester at 2 p.m. Saturday suffered a 54-42 defeat. Douglass hosts No. 5 Simon Kenton at home at 7 p.m. Monday.
Simon Kenton will be looking to avenge last season’s state tournament loss to Douglass. But the Broncos know their blowout of Sacred Heart has potentially changed their season.
“The pressure is on now. Now, we have a target on our back,” Knowles said. “But I definitely think it gives us the confidence to know that we can go out there and get wins, and we can play hard. We can do all that.”
Ballard topples boys No. 1 St. Xavier
In Friday’s late game at St. Xavier, No. 13 Ballard upset the host No. 1 Tigers 73-70, led by 6-foot-10 freshman center Mason Grivna’s 23 points and 15 rebounds.
It’s the third time this season St. X has lost as the No. 1 team in the state after having fallen to Male on Dec. 22 and losing to North Oldham on Jan. 20.
Male and Madison Central have each taken a turn at the top of the Kentucky Media Elite 16 boys basketball poll in the intervening weeks and No. 2 Covington Catholic seems sure to have a shot at it next week amid a 16-game win streak.
Franklin County girls wins streak ends in the 41st District
Great Crossing’s 56-50 home win over Franklin County on Friday ended the Flyers’ 98-game win streak over its 41st District rivals that dated to 2013.
Claire Tierney led four Warhawks in double figures with 18 points. Samantha Brown added 16, Kendall Kearney, 12, and Maya Custard 10 in Great Crossing’s first victory over Franklin County in school history. Brown and Tierney also notched double-doubles with 12 and 10 rebounds, respectively.
Eighth grader La’Kyiah Taylor led Franklin County with 17 points. The Flyers had not lost a game to a district opponent since Feb. 22, 2013 as they began a dominant run that included 12 straight district titles, seven 11th Region titles and two Girls’ Sweet 16 finals appearances under former head coach Joey Thacker, who retired at the end of last season.
This story was originally published February 7, 2026 at 1:40 AM.
