We gave you the 50 greatest sports icons from NKY last summer. Since we had so much fun with that, we’re bringing you another list of the 50 greatest things this summer…The 50 greatest prep sports teams from NKY.
Each day for the next 50 days, we’ll release one of the area’s 50 greatest prep sports teams. It starts June 22 and runs into August. This is not a ranking 1-50, it’s just a collection of the 50 best sports teams ever assembled.
We’ll preface this by saying you may or may not agree with all 50 and that’s fine. Sports editor Evan Dennison assembled a panel of dedicated and longly-tenured NKY sports fans to weigh in and give their takes on who should be on the list. I trust those people because of their history and knowledge of the game in NKY. We compiled numerous lists and identified the most certain candidates for inclusion.
Some of the traits we sought in these teams were state championships (almost certainly a requirement), dominance, and standout players and coaches. We may have cheated a little by lumping some dominant teams together that achieved numerous consecutive state titles, but that gives a few more teams an opportunity to be recognized.
I hope you enjoy this, as sports are slow in the summer. This list serves as a way to remember the past a little and keep you entertained daily as it continues.
Another note, while we respect and give coverage to golf, tennis, wrestling, bowling, track and field and cross country, we consider those individual sports, so any teams from those sports will not make the list.
Here we go!
2019 Ryle girls basketball
Looking back on the 2019 Ryle roster, it’s easy to see why the Lady Raiders became state champions.
Coached by Katie Haitz, the Lady Raiders went 33-5 overall, including a 14-1 mark against 9th Region opponents and a 7-1 record in the 33rd District. They never lost back-to-back games all season and entered the postseason playing their best basketball, closing the year on an 11-game winning streak.
Ryle rolled through the postseason, winning by an average of 22 points per game, with all but one victory coming by double digits. The championship run ended with the program’s first state title, making the Lady Raiders only the second girls basketball team from the 9th Region to win a Kentucky state championship.
At the center of that success was a trio that would eventually continue its careers at the Division I level. Lauren Schwartz led the team at 19.2 points per game, Maddie Scherr averaged 15.1, and Brie Crittendon added 11.6, giving Ryle one of the state’s most talented offensive groups. Role players Jaiden Douthit, Juliet McGregor and Austin Johnson also played vital parts in the championship DNA.
Scherr later starred at Oregon, Kentucky, and TCU, starting 105 Division I games while earning Kentucky Gatorade Player of the Year honors in 2019 and 2020 and Kentucky Miss Basketball recognition in 2020.
Crittendon went on to play at Eastern Kentucky before transferring to Utah Tech, where she posted a career-best scoring season. Schwartz began her career at Rice before transferring to Washington, where she developed into a consistent double-figure scorer, averaging double figures in three of her five collegiate seasons.
The careers that followed for Schwartz, Scherr, and Crittendon underscore what made the 2019 Lady Raiders so special: a championship team built around a trio that would all go on to play Division I basketball.
Here’s the rundown of the 50 greatest NKY prep sports teams day by day:
Day 1: 1998 Highlands Football
Day 2: 1963 Holmes Baseball
Day 3: 2019 Covington Catholic football
Day 4: 2021 Notre Dame Academy Girls Soccer
Day 5: 1960 Highlands Football
Day 6: 1980 Villa Madonna Volleyball
Day 7: 1976 Lloyd Memorial Football
Day 8: 2009 Holmes Boys Basketball