Sacred Heart basketball keeps dream alive for fifth straight state title, bounces Cooper

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LEXINGTON — After a slogfest that featured 44 fouls and 44 turnovers, the Sacred Heart Academy basketball team could find beauty in one simple number — four, as in final four.

The Valkyries attacked on defense and swarmed the backboards on their way to a 78-61 victory over Cooper on Friday in a quarterfinal of the Clark’s Pump-N-Shop Sweet 16 at Rupp Arena.

No. 1-ranked Sacred Heart (33-3) advanced to the state semifinals for the fifth straight year and will face No. 10 Danville Christian (27-7) at 1:30 p.m. Saturday. A win would move the Valkyries to Saturday’s 7:30 p.m. championship, where they would seek a fifth straight state title.

Sacred Heart was led by its "Big Three" of ZaKiyah Johnson (20 points, 11 rebounds, six assists), Bri Wilkins (16 points) and Tootie Jordan (10 points, five rebounds, four steals).

Morgan Frey added nine points and seven rebounds, and Riley Gilvin pitched in nine points and three steals.

Two statistical categories told the story of the game:

* Cooper committed 22 turnovers, and Sacred Heart scored 27 points off them.

* Sacred Heart won the rebounding battle 37-25 and turned 18 offensive boards into 25 second-chance points.

Sophomore Haylee Noel scored 34 points to lead No. 3 Cooper (25-6), which was in the Sweet 16 for the fourth straight year and was eliminated by Sacred Heart for the third time during that span.

On Saturday, Sacred Heart will face a Danville Christian team it beat 77-49 on Jan. 30 in the quarterfinals of the Louisville Invitational Tournament.

This story will be updated.

COOPER 9 11 21 20 – 61

SHA 17 14 24 23 – 78

More Girls Sweet 16:
Results, highlights from Friday's other quarterfinals at Rupp Arena

Jason Frakes: 502-582-4046; [email protected]; Follow on X @kyhighs.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Girls Sweet 16: Sacred Heart moves to semifinals, tops Cooper


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