19 years later, Sacred Heart basketball gets second chance at historic Sweet 16 four-peat
Nineteen years ago — before current stars ZaKiyah Johnson, Reagan Bender and Angelina Pelayo were born — the Sacred Heart Academy basketball team had a chance to make history.
The Valkyries had won three straight state championships from 2002-04 and entered the 2004-05 season ranked No. 1 in Kentucky. No team in the state — boys or girls — had ever won four consecutive championships.
Sacred Heart coach Donna Moir still recalls the final score of the 26th District Tournament semifinal that ended the quest: Assumption 51, Sacred Heart 50.
“I remember that very well,” Moir said. “I still feel the disappointment of years when we had good teams and got beat.”
Nineteen years later, Moir and her Valkyries face a similar situation. Sacred Heart has won three straight state titles and enters the 2023-24 season ranked No. 1 in the state in The Courier Journal’s preseason poll of coaches.
And still, no high school program in Kentucky history — boys or girls — has won four straight state titles. Like the championship banners that hang in the school’s gym, the question of “Can Sacred Heart four-peat?” will hang over the team all season.
“We don’t really talk a whole lot about a four-peat, but they’re driven,” Moir said. “They’re always in the gym. They’re always trying to get better. There’s not a lot of drama with our team. They just come in and play. They’re fun.
“It’s hard to win a championship. We never take for granted one single day of working toward our goal.”
Several stars returning
The Valkyries return four starters from last season’s team that went 36-3 and beat McCracken County, 68-53, to complete the championship three-peat.
Sacred Heart has won 44 straight games against Kentucky opponents and enters the season ranked No. 9 in the nation in ESPN’s SCNext Top 25.
Ask Sacred Heart’s players and you’ll get varying answers about how much a four-peat is talked about. But they all agree a chance to make history is exciting.
Lexington won three straight boys state titles from 1918-20. Laurel County (1977-79) is the only girls program other than Sacred Heart to accomplish a three-peat.
“We have this chance to do something special, something no one’s ever done before, even on the men’s side, which is a big thing,” said Pelayo, the Valkyries’ 6-foot-3 senior center. “Kentucky is a basketball state and one of the only states that doesn’t have classes. To have the chance to win four in a row is something coming in as a freshman I never thought I’d have the chance to do or even think of. It’s an amazing opportunity. I think we can do it.”
The Valkyries’ hopes start with 6-1 guard/forward Johnson, ranked by ESPN’s HoopGurlz as the nation’s No. 5 recruit in the junior class.
Johnson (22.5 ppg, 8.0 rpg last season) has won two straight Sweet 16 MVP and Gatorade Kentucky Player of the Year honors and recently narrowed her list of college choices to 12: Arizona, UConn, Georgia, LSU, Louisville, Mississippi State, Notre Dame, Ohio State, South Carolina, Southern California, Tennessee and UCLA.
Johnson said she spent the summer focused on becoming a more creative scorer.
“She can go inside and post up anybody because she’s so strong,” Moir said. “But I think you’ll see a little bit more of an outside game from her this year.”
A new point guard for the Valkyries
Bender (15.2 ppg) ranked second on the team in scoring last season and shot 33.3% from 3-point range (64 of 194). The 5-10 senior guard said she’s narrowed her college choices to Louisville and Western Kentucky and likely will announce her decision soon.
As for chasing a four-peat, Bender said she’s constantly reminded of the words of Sacred Heart assistant coach Amy Siegel.
“She’s always telling us, ‘The past is in the past,’” Bender said. “So we don’t really talk about it as much as people think we do. We don’t want to put that pressure on ourselves. Every year is a new team, so we don’t really think about the past. We focus on the future.”
Pelayo (11.7 ppg, 6.2 rpg, North Carolina-Wilmington signee) and 5-7 senior Claire Russell (4.2 ppg, 5.6 rpg) are the other returning starters.
If there’s a question about this team, it’s at point guard. Four-year starter Triniti Ralston was one of the state’s top defenders and now is a freshman at Southern Indiana. Freshman Amirah “Tootie” Jordan, who led Male’s varsity team in scoring (11.8 ppg) as an eighth grader last season, is Ralston’s replacement.
“I think she’s the best player in her class,” Johnson said. “She has the same attributes as Triniti — fast, lockdown defense. I think she’ll have a great time as long as we support her.”
Moir put together a national schedule that includes trips to Phoenix for the prestigious Nike Tournament of Champions and to Springfield, Virginia, for the St. James Martin Luther King Classic. That event Jan. 13-15 will feature matchups with two nationally ranked teams: No. 11 Bishop McNamara of Maryland and No. 5 Sidwell Friends of Washington, D.C.
Moir said her team doesn’t feel the pressure of trying to four-peat and embraces the big stage.
“We get everyone’s best game,” Pelayo said. “We never have an easy game. … Sometimes we crack and show it. But as a team we’re so close off the court that we know how to come together and leave it all on the court and just play ball.”
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Reach Jason Frakes at jfrakes@courier-journal.com and follow him on X @kyhighs.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: KHSAA basketball history: Sacred Heart gets another chance at 4-peat
