Leah Macy leads Bethlehem to Sweet 16 quarterfinals; Henderson County downs Owensboro

The 2024 Mingua Beef Jerky Girls’ Basketball Sweet 16 Tournament at Rupp Arena tipped off on Wednesday. After four schools (Bowling Green, McCracken County, Butler, and Franklin County) locked up spots in Friday’s quarterfinals, two more joined the group on Thursday.

To start things off, Bethlehem took on Pikeville, followed by Henderson County vs. Owensboro. Check out KSR’s recaps of both games below. Later on Thursday, two more teams will look to advance to the quarterfinals as George Rogers Clark takes on Sacred Heart (6:00 PM) before Cooper meets Danville Christian (8:30 PM).

Leah Macy’s 31 Points Leads Bethlehem Past Pikeville

BY: Jacob Polacheck

It was the Leah Macy Show on Thursday morning at Rupp Arena. Macy, a 6-foot-2 junior forward, finished with 31 points (12-for-19 FG), 17 rebounds, and two blocks, leading Bethlehem (Bardstown, KY) to a 56-49 win over Pikeville (Pikeville, KY).

Macy, a five-star recruit in the 2025 class per ESPN, previously received an offer from Kentucky when Kyra Elzy was still the women’s basketball coach. She said she “hasn’t made a final decision yet” on her college commitment.

“Hopefully, here soon, but nothing specific or anything like that,” Macy said. “It’s been a really fun process to get to experience and everything. It’s cool watching them on TV this year and knowing I have personal relationships with almost every coach that’s on TV.”

Pikeville got off to a hot start with Trinity Rowe’s 10 first-quarter points, including a buzzer-beating three-pointer to end the period. Pikeville led 19-14 at the end of the first quarter and 32-26 at the end of the first half, controlling most of the early game.

“I’m super proud of my team today,” Bethlehem coach Jason Clark said. “I told the girls that we just need to dig in on the defensive end and, if I’m not mistaken, we held them to 17 points in the second half. That was definitely the difference in the ball game for us.”

Bethlehem took over the game in the second half, outscoring Pikeville 18-8 in the third quarter and 12-9 in the fourth. Pikeville guard Trinity Rowe still finished with 17 points on 6-for-12 shooting as well as six assists in the loss.

The Banshees will take on the winner of George Rogers Clark and Sacred Heart during Friday’s quarterfinals (6:00 PM).

Henderson County takes down Owensboro en route to Elite 8

BY: Phoenix Stevens

After trailing for much of the game, the Henderson County Lady Colonels would storm back to defeat the Owensboro Lady Devils 43-39 in a defensive bout.

Through two quarters of play, Owensboro had a 26-19 lead over Henderson County. The Lady Colonels struggled to find much going offensively at first as they shot just 7-22 (32%) in the first half. Earlier this season back on January 27th, Henderson County beat Owensboro 56-48 on the road. However, it seemed that the Lady Devils may get the last laugh.

Then, things were different in the second half.

Sophomore Atylia Green practically carried Henderson County to the finish line as she scored 14 second-half points on 5-8 (2-4 3PT) shooting. On top of that, she grabbed a total of seven rebounds in the win — six of them coming in the second half.

Despite double-digit efforts from Owensboro’s Unique Carter-Swanagan (15) and Heleina John (13), the Lady Colonels were able to pull off the win against a rival Western KY opponent. Henderson County will either take on Danville Christian (29-2) or Cooper (29-4) in the quarterfinals on March 15th at 8:30 p.m. EST.