There was a lot of buildup leading into Wednesday’s girls basketball matchup featuring No. 1 Sacred Heart and No. 2 George Rogers Clark in their showdown in Winchester.
The Valkyries had won 91 straight games against in-state opponents and the matchup had the potential to be a streak-stopper. Sacred Heart squashed any upset bids with a 80-68 victory.
Thing is, a pesky Simon Kenton team was waiting for them in Independence on Friday night. The Lady Pioneers did the unimaginable, taking down the Valkyries 75-70 in overtime. The 92-game streak is over, Simon Kenton doing it with just five players on the night and not making a single substitution in the 36-minute game.
Brynli Pernell led the way with 22 points, also collecting three rebounds and four assists. Bella Ober added 21 points with five assists and three rebounds and Haylie Webb posted 13 points with nine rebounds and four assists. Anna Kelch also joined the double-digit scoring party with 12 points and added five rebounds and five assists. Meg Gadzala chipped in with seven points and five rebounds, four of them on the offensive end.
In order for Simon Kenton (21-4) to go with their strategy, they stayed out of foul trouble for the most part as they committed just 11 fouls all game. Sacred Heart (22-3) meanwhile had three players foul out including Miss Kentucky Basketball favorite ZaKyiah Johnson in overtime, ending her night with 25 points, 12 rebounds, six assists and six steals.
Simon Kenton shot 51% from the field and a blistering 48% from 3-point land.
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The Lady Pioneers jumped on Sacred Heart early, leading 18-9 in the first and held a 36-33 lead at halftime. They took a 54-47 lead into the fourth before the Valkyries rallied to get the game to overtime. The back-and-forth affair had 11 lead changes.
Simon Kenton has now won seven straight games. With Jeff Stowers back in the fold to replace his son Brenden Stowers (who took an assistant coaching job at NKU), the Lady Pioneers look primed and ready to claim an 8th Region title and make some noise at Rupp Arena. The scariest part about all this? They have just two seniors on the roster and the five that played on Friday were three juniors (Webb, Kelch, Meg Gadzala), a sophomore (Pernell) and a freshman (Ober).
Sacred Heart had two prior losses this season. Lawrence Central out of Indiana and American Heritage out of Florida. Their last loss to an in-state opponent was Feb. 13, 2022 against Mercy, which also happened to be an overtime game.
