Who are Kentucky’s top 25 girls’ basketball teams for 2020-21?
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2020-21 High School Basketball Preview
The Herald-Leader/Kentucky.com is publishing season preview stories leading up to the start of the 2020-21 high school basketball season on Monday, Jan. 4. You can read everything we’ve published to this point by clicking on this drop-down list. All of the stories are also available in our print editions.
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With the state’s only ESPN Top 100 recruit, a senior-laden lineup and a rigorous region that will have it battle-tested for a run to the state tournament, Butler is the Herald-Leader’s preseason No. 1 in Kentucky girls’ high school basketball.
The Bearettes received 23 first-place votes in a survey of the state’s girls’ basketball head coaches, seven more than Franklin County, which has its own big-time Division I commit.
Butler features 5-foot-11 senior forward Tiarra East, a Temple commit, along with fellow Herald-Leader top 25 player Dynastee White, a 5-8 senior guard. Franklin County has Herald-Leader preseason No. 1 player Brooklynn Miles, a Tennessee commit, a blur of a point guard who led the Flyers to the 11th Region title last year.
But there’s also expected to be a challenge from a host of others, including an Anderson County team that solved the Flyers in the short-lived state tournament last year and has talented junior guard Amiya Jenkins. Anderson got nine first-place votes.
Coaches also believe Ryle could return to glory, as well, garnering eight first-place nods. The Raiders were the last team to hoist a state title and have Eastern Kentucky commit Brie Crittendon among its returning standouts.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Kentucky’s high school basketball seasons have been pushed back to a Jan. 4 tip-off and an abbreviated schedule. Last year’s season ended with only a little more than half the first round of the state tournament played due to the pandemic.
Here’s a look at this year’s Herald-Leader High School Girls’ Basketball Preseason Top 25 with a brief summary on what we know about the top 10 teams.
The top 10
(Last season’s record in parentheses)
1. Butler (28-5): 22nd District champs. Last year’s 6th Region runners-up appear poised for a run at what would be the Bearettes’ sixth state crown, which would rank them first among state championship teams. Coach Wyatt Foust thinks his team has “a real chance to make a run at a state tournament title.” Tiarra East and Dynastee White averaged double figures scoring and are among five seniors back for a team that averaged a modest 54 points per game last season. But that’s because of a deliberate style and a stifling defense that held opponents to a state-best 34.8 points.
2. Franklin County (27-8): 11th Region champs. With senior Brooklynn Miles at point and 5-11 junior Patience Laster in the post, the Flyers have two proven double-figure scoring threats. Add to that juniors Jazmine Chambers and Neveah Carter, who each had breakout performances last year, and 6-4 sophomore transfer Jhaven Meade, and Franklin County has size, speed, athleticism and experience covered. Coach Joey Thacker says they’ll need to find some three-point shooting, but he has a team that could get Franklin County back in the state finals. They’ve been there twice under Thacker with runner-up finishes in 2016 and 2017.
3. Anderson County (31-5): 8th Region champs. Coach Clay Birdwhistell believes he has one of the best players in the state in 5-11 junior guard Amiya Jenkins and returns “85% of our scoring and 77% of our rebounding from a team that won 31 games and was still standing when COVID-19 shut down our season,” Birdwhistell said. “Not getting to finish was a hard pill to swallow, but our kids have used that as motivation this offseason. Every player has improved.” That nucleus includes 5-8 senior Sophie Smith, 5-7 senior Rachel Satterly, a Freed Hardeman commit, 6-0 senior Tiffani Riley and 6-1 junior Jacie Chesser. “There are a lot of good teams in the state of Kentucky that could have a shot at a championship this spring. We believe we are one of them.”
4. Ryle (23-11): 9th Region champs. With Miss Basketball Maddie Scherr graduated, Ryle returns with a young team that will build around the talents of senior guard Brie Crittendon, an Eastern Kentucky signee who averaged 15.5 points last year. Abby Holtman averaged 9.4 points per game as a freshman. Quinn Eubank a 5-11 freshman forward, began to earn starts last season and fellow freshman Sarah Baker, a 6-1 forward, had some breakout games. “I am really excited about the young talent that will be stepping into new roles this year,” Coach Katie Haitz said.
5. Bethlehem (31-4): 19th District champs. Last season’s All “A” Classic champions finished as 5th Region runners-up, and return three starters including scoring leaders Amelia Hodges and Ella Thompson, who Coach Jason Clark believes will be battling it out for 5th Region player of the year and possibly Miss Basketball. Hodges, a 5-7 point guard, averaged 16.7 points per game with Thompson coming in at 15.9 and leading the team in rebounding with 8.7. They were each lead figures in the Banshees’ Sweet 16 team as sophomores.
6. Sacred Heart (32-3): 7th Region champs. Losing five seniors who went on to play in college in one sport or another would be a major setback for most teams. The Valkyries aren’t most teams. Sophomore Triniti Ralston is the team’s leading returning scorer at 9.4 points per game, and Coach Donna Bender Moir expects her other returnees will be “ready to step in and fill shoes.” Josie Gilvin, Olivia Kaufman and Alex Wolff played key support roles last year.
7. South Laurel (27-6): 13th Region champs. The Cardinals lost about 1,500 points off last year’s squad. But Coach Chris Souder has back senior Brianna Howard at point, who averaged 7.9 points per game and stepped up big when now-Western Kentucky freshman Ally Collett went down midseason. Also returning are 6-2 junior Rachel Presley, 6-0 sophomore Clara Collins, 5-10 sophomore Emily Cox and 5-10 sophomore Reagan Jones. “This year will really have a lot of questions to be answered,” Souder said. But Souder likes his team’s size and adds they’re “still a very good shooting team.”
8. Boyd County (20-12): 64th District champs. Last year’s runners-up in the 16th Region have some believers, getting five first-place votes in our coaches poll. Standout 5-7 guard Harley Paynter, a Tennessee Tech commit who averaged 22 points per game last season, is a big reason why. But the Lady Lions also have back their other double-figure scorers in Bailey Rucker, a 5-8 senior guard, and Audrey Biggs, a 6-0 forward. “We have a veteran team that has played in the last four region championships,” Coach Pete Fraley said.
9. Clark County (22-10): 10th Region champs. The Cardinals without Kennedy Igo (now at Northern Kentucky) is going to seem weird, but GRC won’t have much trouble adjusting with Brianna Byars and Tyra Flowers still in the fold along with their 12.5-point and 10-point scoring averages, respectively. Flowers, a 5-10 junior, averaged eight rebounds per game as well. Byars, a sophomore, already has offers from the likes of Eastern Kentucky, NKU and Toledo. “Our strengths are winning mentality, length and athleticism,” Coach Robbie Graham said.
10. Notre Dame (25-7): 35th District champs. Coach Kes Murphy has all five starters and his top four bench players back. Those include leading scorers Lacey Bradshaw (14.2 ppg) and Macie Feldman (10.3 ppg). Murphy calls this his most experienced team since the Covington Holy Cross squad he took to a state title in 2015. “Our kids experienced disappointment last season and are even more determined to build upon last year’s progress,” Murphy said.
The next 15
(Listed with result of final game last season)
11. Manual (25-8): 25th District champs. Lost 57-38 to Sacred Heart in the 7th Region semifinals.
12. Bullitt East (25-7): 6th Region champs. Beat Elizabethtown 66-55 in the Sweet 16 first round.
13. Bowling Green (28-6): 4th Region champs. Defeated Barren County 58-48 in region finals.
14. Elizabethtown (27-6): 5th Region champs. Lost 66-55 to Bullitt East in the Sweet 16 first round.
15. Simon Kenton (27-5): Lost 45-35 to Anderson County in the 8th Region first round.
16. North Laurel (28-5): 49th District champs. Lost 78-67 to South Laurel in the 13th Region finals.
17. Marshall County (24-9): 1st Region champs. Defeated Graves County 52-50 in region finals.
18. Russell (26-8): 16th Region champs. Defeated Boyd County 75-57 in region finals.
19. Mercer County (22-9): 46th District champs. Lost 61-57 to Wayne County in 12th Region first round.
20. Scott County (28-7): 42nd District champs. Lost 57-53 to Franklin County in 11th Region finals.
21. Casey County (28-7): 12th Region champs. Defeated Pikeville 49-46 in the Sweet 16 first round.
22. Paul Laurence Dunbar (23-9): 43rd District champs. Lost 73-63 to Franklin County in 11th Region semis.
23. Henderson County (22-7): 2nd Region champs. Defeated Madisonville 66-49 in region finals.
24. Scott (3-25): Lost to Campbell County in 37th District semis.
25. Mercy (19-12): 24th District champs. Lost 55-47 to Butler in 6th Region semis.
METHODOLOGY
Our annual survey was emailed to all 271 KHSAA girls’ basketball coaches in Kentucky, using their email registered with the KHSAA. Multiple attempts were made to encourage every school to participate. Coaches were asked to select their top 10 teams, and points were assigned based on a team’s position on the ballot (10 points for No. 1, nine points for No. 2, eight points for No. 3, etc.), and tabulated across all ballots received; some schools participated in the survey but declined to vote due to unfamiliarity with players and teams outside of their own. A total of 78 coaches (28.8 percent) voted in our top 10 poll out of the 175 coaches (64.6 percent) who responded to the survey and supplied information about their teams.
2020-21 season preview
This is the second of eight stories the Herald-Leader and Kentucky.com is publishing in the coming days previewing the 2020-21 high school boys’ and girls’ basketball seasons, which are scheduled to tip off Jan. 4.
This story was originally published December 22, 2020 at 7:44 AM.
