Sacred Heart wins Sweet Sixteen behind inspiring story from coach Donna Moir
Sports often mean much more than what happens during the games. The KHSAA Girls Sweet Sixteen is a reminder. With her young grandchildren sharing the podium following her team’s state title victory, Sacred Heart Coach Donna Moir explained how her team, her kids, “have had my back all year” following the recent death of her daughter-in-law.
Take a second and listen to the emotion in Coach Moir’s voice and the message she has.
Sacred Heart won the state championship for the second year in a row, but that’s hardly what makes the 2022 Valkyries so special, from the head coach to the last player on the bench. A group coming together to create an amazing, shared experience. Isn’t that what sports are all about? At its very best. The stuff of movies.
Wins, losses, championships — those fade away. Logan Stephens responded to the tweet above, putting it better than I could: “Relationships with teammates and coaches are something that’s never forgotten, for better or worse. Stores like this, man. Chills.”
For those of you that do want to read about how Sacred Heart finished off its state championship run, I’ve got a full recap below. Let’s not overlook how unbelievably talented these girls are on the basketball court.
First Quarter
Bullitt East’s Gracie Merkle was the first player to reach the scoreboard as she fought for deep post position and laid in two points to give Bullitt East a 2-0 lead. Sacred Heart hit one of two free throws and got a bucket from Reagan Bender to earn a quick 3-2 lead, and a pair of fire throws from Bullitt East’s Emma Egan put the Lady Chargers back on top 4-3. Their final lead of the half, unfortunately.
The Lady Chargers just didn’t have enough to keep up with the defending champs. Sacred Heart saw five different players on the scoreboard in the first period. And when they did miss the occasional shot, Josie Gilvin and Angelina Pelayo were there to rebound and convert the put-back. Sacred Heart led 20-10 at the end of one.
Second Quarter
Much like the first, Bullitt East scored the opening bucket of the second quarter off a layup by Jada Hughes. Gilvin found Pelayo for the Valkyrie response and then Egan made her third free throw of the night to cut it back to nine. That’s how most of the quarter went. Sacred Heart had little trouble getting good looks and scoring, but Bullitt East — mainly, Bellarmine commit Gracie Merkle — found a way to keep the lead from completely ballooning.
However, with about two minutes left in the half, Sacred Heart flattened the gas pedal. Triniti Ralston stole the ball from Bullitt East and rifled a pass all the way up the court to Reagan Bender who was fouled and laid it in. She hit the foul shot too. Merkle made two free throws in response to make the score 34-21. Then Ralston drove for a layup and stole the ball on the next possession. She drew a foul and converted both free throws to give SHA a 38-21 advantage.
Bullitt East got a bucket back right before the end of the half but went in down 15.
Third Quarter
The Lady Chargers came out with fire in their eyes in the third. After a score by SHA, Anna Rodgers drained a three and Jada Hughes hit a jumper to take the lead down to 12. Star freshman ZaKiyah Johnson made a pair of foul shots a minute later to put the lead back at 15. Then Bullitt responded with their best run of the night.
Hughes made two free throws before Merkle made two of her own and made a layup. A 6-0 run put Bullitt East within 10 at 44-35, with all the momentum on their side.
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But Gilvin, a senior a Kentucky Miss Basketball candidate, decided single-digits was a little too close and scored six straight points for the Valkyries to close out the third and give SHA a 50-35 advantage heading into the final frame.
Fourth Quarter
The first four minutes of the fourth quarter featured six made free throws and just one basket between the teams. Good news for Sacred Heart, though. Barring a late frenzy from Bullitt East, they would cruise to another state title.
The Lady Chargers’ struggles can be credited to the absence of Gracie Merkle. She picked up her fourth foul of the night late in the third quarter and sat to start the fourth. Without her, the Bullitt offense never had the firepower to climb out of a 15-point hole. When she did return to the lineup, the deficit was still 15 and she immediately got tp work, scoring her team’s first bucket of the period to make it 54-41 with 4:05 to go.
Gilvin immediately scored a layup of her own on the other end to re-extend the lead to 15 with 3:58 to go. That was the last basket scored the rest of the way. Sacred Heart and Bullitt East combined for 11 free throws down the stretch but no one put the ball through the hoop during live play.
As a result, Sacred Heart won by a final score of 64-46 and is now back-to-back state champions.
RECAP
The 2022 All-Tournament Team was named following the conclusion of the game. Emma Egan and Gracie Merkle represented Bullitt East as Josie Gilvin, Triniti Ralston and ZaKiyah Johnson were named from Sacred Heart. Johnson earned Tournament MVP honors.
Gilvin and Reagan Bender were the two to lead the Valkyries statistically, though. Gilvin finished with 15 points, nine rebounds, six assists, four steals and two blocks. She can stuff a stat sheet. Bender led SHA with 16. Gracie Merkle didn’t go quietly into the night, tallying 24 points on 12-16 free throws despite shooting just over 50% from the stripe on the season. Heck of a ball player.
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