The 2024 Lexington Herald-Leader All-State Girls Basketball Team is here
The Herald-Leader is proud to announce its 2024 All-State Girls Basketball Teams as voted on by high school coaches across the commonwealth.
For the third year in a row, Sacred Heart’s ZaKiyah Johnson topped our All-State list as Herald-Leader Girls Basketball Player of the Year. Johnson, a 6-foot forward ranked as a five-star recruit and the No. 5 junior in the nation by ESPN’s HoopGurlz ratings, led the Valkyries with 18.9 points and 7.2 rebounds per game in helping Sacred Heart to its fourth consecutive Girls’ Sweet 16 championship.
Johnson received 79 player of the year votes and appeared on 101 of the 106 All-State ballots submitted by Kentucky high school girls basketball coaches last week.
Second in the voting was Bethlehem’s Leah Macy, another 5-star junior who is ranked as the No. 8 recruit in the nation. Macy and this year’s Miss Basketball, Trinity Rowe of Pikeville, got six player of the year nods each. McCracken County’s Claire Johnson got seven top votes among All-State first-teamers.
In addition to ZaKiyah Johnson and Macy, fellow juniors Grace Mbugua of Danville Christian and Ciara Byars of George Rogers Clark made the first team. Seniors rounded out the list with Russell’s Shaelyn Steel, Sacred Heart’s Reagan Bender, Hart County’s Dea Bradley and Butler’s Marian Knight.
The Herald-Leader All-State Teams are based on coaches’ selections in a statewide survey conducted by the Lexington Herald-Leader/Kentucky.com. Players are listed in order of point totals based on coaches’ votes. There are three teams of 10 players, plus 20 honorable mentions.
First team
Player, School | Ht. | Class | PPG | Notes | All-State Points | POY Votes | Ballots |
ZaKiyah Johnson, Sacred Heart | 6-0 | Jr. | 18.9 | 3-time Ky. Gatorade player of the year and Sweet 16 MVP; 5-star recruit rated No. 5 junior in the nation by ESPN’s HoopGurlz | 951 | 79 | 101 |
Leah Macy, Bethlehem | 6-2 | Jr. | 25 | 5-star recruit rated No. 8 junior in the nation by ESPN’s HoopGurlz | 686 | 6 | 92 |
Trinity Rowe, Pikeville | 5-5 | Sr. | 16.2 | 2024 Miss Basketball; Southern Mississippi signee | 606 | 6 | 88 |
Claire Johnson, McCracken County | 5-10 | Sr. | 23.1 | 1st Region KABC player of the year; Samford signee | 521 | 7 | 79 |
Grace Mbugua, Danville Christian | 6-4 | Jr. | 25.7 | Led state in rebounding with 15.4 per game | 291 | 1 | 58 |
Shaelyn Steele, Russell | 5-6 | Sr. | 21.1 | 16th Region KABC player of the year; Penn State signee | 268 | 1 | 54 |
Reagan Bender, Sacred Heart | 5-10 | Sr. | 13.5 | 7th Region KABC co-player of the year; Louisville commit | 267 | 55 | |
Dea Bradley, Hart County | 5-5 | Sr. | 29.1 | 5th Region KABC player of the year; led state in scoring; Campbellsville commit | 188 | 2 | 37 |
Ciara Byars, George Rogers Clark | 6-2 | Jr. | 14.1 | 4-star recruit rated No. 37 junior in the nation; suffered season-ending knee injury in January | 109 | 29 | |
Maria Knight, Butler | 5-7 | Sr. | 15.2 | 6th Region KABC co-player of the year; Jacksonville signee | 100 | 22 |
Second team
Player, School | Ht. | Class | PPG |
Destiny Jones, Central | 5-10 | Sr. | 23.6 |
Kenleigh Woods, Ashland Blazer | 5-3 | Jr. | 22.1 |
Ramiya White, Butler | 6-3 | Sr. | 11.9 |
Logan Luebbers Palmer, Cooper | 6-1 | Sr. | 15.8 |
Hayden Barrier, Montgomery County | 5-7 | Sr. | 18.2 |
Liz Freihofer, Cooper | 6-1 | Sr. | 12.0 |
Peyton Bradley, Meade County | 5-10 | Jr. | 23.2 |
Audrey Biggs, Boyd County | 6-1 | Sr. | 15.4 |
Carly Smith, Owsley County | 5-6 | Sr. | 16.0 |
Ayanna-Sarai Darrington, Frederick Douglass | 6-2 | Sr. | 15.3 |
Third team
Player, School | Ht. | Class | PPG |
Sydney Martin, Pulaski County | 5-11 | Sr. | 21.5 |
Quinn Eubank, Ryle | 6-0 | Sr. | 15.7 |
Julia Hunt, Covington Holy Cross | 6-2 | Sr. | 13.2 |
Jasmine Jordan, Boyd County | 6-2 | Sr. | 19.6 |
Lainey Johnson, Anderson County | 6-0 | Jr. | 19.1 |
Anna Drakeford, Mercer County | 5-8 | Sr. | 26.0 |
LaReesha Cawthorn, Franklin-Simpson | 6-0 | Jr. | 17.3 |
Angelina Pelayo, Sacred Heart | 6-3 | Sr. | 10.6 |
Ashtyn Barrett, Bath County | 5-6 | Sr. | 21.6 |
Halle Collins, Knox Central | 5-11 | Jr. | 22.9 |
Honorable mention
Mikee Buchanan, McCracken County; Emmy Preace, Paintsville; Nicole Archibald, Bracken County; Kennedy Stamper, George Rogers Clark; Kyra McAlarnis, Perry County Central; Lakin Williams, Martin County; Niah Rhodes, Frederick Douglass; Kylie Gayheart, Knott County Central; Mikyra Caudill, Powell County; Sayler Lowe, Calloway County; Brooke Nichelson, North Laurel; Marissa Green, Highlands; Abigail Varney, Barren County; Ella Karst, Harlan County; Maggie Simons, Nicholas County; Caroline Eaglin, Newport Central Catholic; Anaysia Bagwell, Christian County; Carlie Thurmond, Bethlehem; Kiera Couch, Letcher County Central; Rachel Shropshire, Franklin County.
Methodology: Our annual All-State survey was emailed to all 264 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 players and points were assigned based on a player’s position on the ballot (10 points for Player of the Year, nine points for No. 2, eight points for No. 3, etc.), and tabulated across all ballots received. The top 50 players receiving votes made our All-State list. This year, 106 coaches participated and all 16 regions were represented.
The 2024 Lexington Herald-Leader All-State Boys Basketball Team is here
