2026 Kentucky Miss Basketball finalists announced. See all 18 players
Lexington Christian’s Piper Graham earned recognition as one of Kentucky girls high school basketball’s top seniors Friday as the 11th Region player of the year and one of 18 nominees for the sport’s highest individual honor, Kentucky Miss Basketball.
Graham, a 5-foot-8 point guard, leads the Eagles with 19.2 points per game, and helped LCA make the 43rd District finals and 11th Region Tournament last season for the first time since 2010.
This year, LCA advanced to the girls All “A” Classic small-school state tournament semifinals as its 11th Region champion for the third year in a row.
The other Miss Basketball nominees include Assumption’s Ashlinn James, an Indiana commit who shared 7th Region player of the year honors with Sacred Heart’s Marshall commit Brianna Wilkins.
George Rogers Clark’s Teigh Yeast, a Robert Morris commit, represents the 10th Region. Some of the state’s top scorers who joined the list are Calloway County’s Sayler Lowe, Ryle’s Jaelyn Jones, South Oldham’s Madison Young, Rockcastle County’s Taylor King, Pikeville’s Kylie Alvin and Bell County’s double-double machine Kairi Lamb.
The boys and girls region players of the year were announced Friday morning by the Kentucky Lions Eye Foundation via its social media channels, including Facebook.
In conjunction with the Kentucky Association of Basketball Coaches, the KLEF conducted a single survey of coaches for the region player of the year awards, which also serve as each region’s nomination list for Mr. and Miss Basketball. This is the first year the KLEF did not offer an additional survey for coaches and media to submit other possible nominees.
A separate vote that includes coaches and media will be conducted over the next several days for the Mr. and Miss Basketball awards, which have been given exclusively to seniors since their inception.
Those awards and other honors will be presented at the annual Mr. and Miss Kentucky Basketball Awards Ceremony on March 22 at the Marriott Lexington Griffin Gate.
2026 Miss Basketball finalists
The 2026 KABC girls region players of the year with school, height, position, this season’s points per game through Thursday and college choice if known. The awards are reserved for seniors.
1st Region: Sayler Lowe, Calloway County, 6-0 guard, 21.7 points (North Alabama).
2nd Region: A’Tylia Green, Henderson County, 5-7 guard, 16.6 points (Kentucky State).
3rd Region: Kennedy Lane, Daviess County, 5-7 guard, 23 points (undecided).
4th Region: Debora Patrick, Allen County-Scottsville, 5-10 center, 12.8 points (undecided).
5th Region: Nora Kate Simpson, Nelson County, 5-6 guard, 15.9 points (Brescia).
6th Region: Keziah Renee’, Butler, 5-7 guard, 15.4 points (Butler).
7th Region: Ashlinn James, Assumption, 5-7 guard, 14.2 points (Indiana).
• Brianna Wilkins, Sacred Heart, 5-10 forward, 17.7 points (Marshall)
8th Region: Madison Young, South Oldham, 5-10 guard, 19.1 points (Illinois State).
9th Region: Jaelyn Jones, Ryle, 5-10 forward, 20.5 points (Western Illinois).
10th Region: Teigh Yeast, George Rogers Clark, 5-9 guard, 11.8 points (Robert Morris).
• Isabella Jayasuriya, Campbell County, 5-10 forward, 15.8 points (Thomas More).
11th Region: Piper Graham, Lexington Christian, 5-8 guard, 19.2 points (undecided)
12th Region: Taylor King, Rockcastle County, 5-10 guard, 19.2 points (undecided).
13th Region: Kairi Lamb, Bell County, 6-3 center, 19 points, 14.5 rebounds (undecided).
14th Region: Ava Napier, Leslie County, 5-3 guard, 13.1 points (undecided).
15th Region: Kylie Alvin, Pikeville, 5-3 guard, 18.3 points (Pikeville).
16th Region: Gabby Karle, Ashland Blazer, 5-8 guard, 15.2 points (undecided).
This story was originally published February 20, 2026 at 10:40 AM.
