It’s been as predictable as the minus-144-degree temperatures on the East Antarctica Plateau.
Since 2005, either Dixie Heights or St. Henry has won the girls 34th District title, with Dixie winning the last nine.
Since Scott, now in the 10th Region’s 37th District, won the 34th in 2004, Dixie Heights has won 14 championships (2015-23, 2013, 2005-08), and St. Henry has captured five (2009-12, 2014).
Dixie coach Joel Steczynski said consistency is the main reason for the Colonels’ success.
“Over the years we’ve continued to focus on developing,” Steczynski said.
And in 2024? At least one coach thinks the Colonels will win title No. 15.
“It’s hard to say that anybody but Dixie is the favorite in the district,” Ludlow coach Blake Clary said. “They’ve been top dog for so long, until somebody can show that they can dethrone them, you have to kind of anticipate that they’re going to be right up there.”
Dixie Heights (25-8 last season)
Steczynski said district titles “are well and good.”
“But we certainly have higher hopes at region and making some noise,” he said.
Dixie won the Ninth Region in 2021 and lost to 16th Region winner Russell in the state first round. Besides that, the Colonels have reached the region finals once (falling to eventual state champion Ryle in 2019) and the semifinals three times (2022, 2020 and 2018).
Steczynski said there is a connection to the 2021 titlists – four of this year’s starters, senior Abby Thelen, juniors Bella Crawford and Catherine Buddenberg and sophomore Coralee Pelfrey were on the ‘21 roster.
Returning to Northern Kentucky University for the 2024 regional could be difficult – leading scorer Sammy Berman is a freshman at Hanover College in Indiana, Ella Steczynski (Joel’s daughter) plays softball for Transylvania University in Lexington, and Pelfrey is out with a torn right anterior cruciate knee ligament she suffered in June.
“(Pelfrey’s) recovery looks great,” Joel Steczynski said. “There’s potential for her to come back, but my plans are that she is not gonna be back this year because, quite honestly, I want her to have a really strong summer.”
Not having Berman, Steczynski and Pelfrey means Dixie loses 61.8% of last season’s scoring and 48.9% of the rebounding.
Thelen averaged 5.5 points and 3.2 rebounds a game last year, and Crawford averaged 3.2 and 1.1.
Senior Jalynn Brooks chipped in another 3.5 points and 2.8 rebounds.
Steczynski said the 5-11 Thelen should get most of her touches close to the basket, but she can also play on the perimeter if need be.
St. Henry (18-13)
Todd Smart begins his fifth season as head coach. The Crusaders were district runners-up; they lost to Notre Dame in the regional first round.
The good news: four starters and six seniors return.
“A fairly experienced group of girls that we’ve been blessed to have with us,” Smart said. “This is finally the group that we’ve had in our system for the past five years.”
St. Henry’s system stresses defense, and the Crusaders have been stingy, allowing just under 41 points a game. What the Crusaders need: more scoring – they averaged just 43 points.
Senior Kayla Unkraut led the team with 14 points a game; she needs four to get to 1,000 for her career. Smart could talk for an hour about what she does.
“Oh my gosh, she’s our most complete basketball player,” Smart said. “When you want to start a program, you want to start with Kayla Unkraut, the most unselfish kid I’ve ever coached in the 32 years that I’ve been coaching.”
Taylor Hill, a 6-foot-1 senior center, led St. Henry with 7.6 rebounds a game. Smart would like to see some more scoring – perhaps an occasional double-double.
“We’ve had those conversations,” Smart said. “We run a type of spread offense that we like to try to get her going to the basket. Her strengths are facing up more than they are back to the basket.”
Seniors Sydney Bollman, Liz Mason and Josie Knollman will likely share time at the guard slots.
Ludlow (16-16)
Clary is enjoying something different this season.
“We have seven seniors, so we return a lot of varsity experience,” Clary said. “Four starters will return, which is kind of uncommon for a Ludlow team.”
Look for the Panthers to hurry the ball up the court.
“I think we have the depth to do it, especially at the guard position,” Clary said.
Sophomore Addy Garrett, who averaged 11.9 points a game last year, moves to point guard. She replaces her sister, 2023 alumna Mylee Garrett.
“She’s our top returning scorer coming back,” Clary said. “Last year she was more off-the-ball and we’re not shouldering the whole workload onto her.”
Senior twin sisters Prestyn and Olivia King and senior Ava Hoffmeister are back; Olivia missed much of the season last year with a high ankle sprain.
Clary knows something about coaching twins – he has twin daughters.
“(The Kings) battle each other, they know how to push each other,” Clary said. “They have that kind of twin instinct to let each other know where each other’s gonna be. They play off each other well, especially in transition.”
The 5-foot-10 Hoffmeister led the Panthers with 6.8 rebounds per contest and made a team-high 32.5% of her 3-pointers.
Clary isn’t sure who the fifth starter will be. The candidates include senior center Alisa Stamm, sophomore Kiley Huff and senior Cheree Pence.
Villa Madonna (4-26)
Third-year coach Katie Kortekamp said the last two years were a challenge – the Vikings are 8-49 since 2021.
“A lot of new girls come out to play, which is always a good thing, but it’s been kind of an uphill battle with getting people comfortable with the sport again who haven’t played in a while,” Kortekamp said. “Also, this area is so competitive.”
Kortekamp knows her hoops – playing in high school at St. Ursula Academy in Cincinnati and collegiately at Loyola-Chicago. To keep everyone’s attitudes positive, she’s easygoing at practice – there’s not as much running or punishment for minor mistakes.
“It’s important for me to be constructive but not get people down,” Kortekamp said.
Junior guard Catherine Gibbs and junior forward Annie Chadwick both averaged 6.8 points a game. Gibbs led the Vikings with 4.1 rebounds a contest.
Kortekamp has the same goal every season – at least 10 wins.
“I haven’t done that, obviously, so far,” she said. “I think this year 10 wins would be huge for us.”
Lloyd Memorial (13-17)
The Juggernauts have not won the district since at least 1997 and have not made the 9th Region tournament since 2017, one of only three trips. (The others were in 2006 and 2002.)
The good news from Lloyd’s Erlanger campus: Last year’s top three scorers, senior guard Sierra McCoin (15.5 points a game), sophomore guard Maleah Ham (10.6 points) and Keirstyn Young (6.6 points) return.
“We are returning almost everyone from last year’s squad, especially three of our seniors who have been integral parts of our program for four years,” coach Paul Sturgeon wrote in an email.
McCoin has scored 1,070 points in four seasons, an 11.3 points per game average. Sturgeon said senior guard Young is “excellent attacking the rim and (as a) defender,” and that senior forward Brooklyn Auclerc is an excellent 3-point shooter and defender.
Sophomore center Mya Holden-Hopkins, who led the team with 5.8 rebounds a game, and junior center Railynn Brown are also back.