Basketball season for 2015/2016 should provide another exciting year. What should we expect from Sacred Heart? Remember, please be constructive.

passtheball, can you give us a breakdown of Sacred Heart?

If this team can find a way to offset their height disadvantage and lack of physical post presence to combat the likes of Green (Male) McKune (Manual) and Porter(Eatern) they could make it through the 7th region but I think they may be a year away

Who do they have after the Taylor girl in the middle?

As with any team staying healthy plays a big role in a high school teams success at the end of the year when tourney time comes around. Sacred Heart can't afford to lose any of its core players to have a chance at winning the 7h region this year. Team depth is a concern if any of the players in the main rotation go down this year.

 

Don't be fooled with the youthful roster just because the Valkyries only have one senior on the squad. Most of the players on this team are sophomores with one freshman that compliments the back court. These kids gained plenty of varsity experience last year as well as the experience they gained playing AAU.

 

Grace Berger is considered by many a top notch player not only in the 7th region, but in the State of Kentucky. She will be one of the leaders of this team providing scoring punch and rebounding. She is being recruited by many top notch D1 programs across the country. This will be her team for the next 3 years.

 

Joining Berger, as what I would consider the top athlete on the team ,is Kia Sivils. She is extremely fast with good basketball skills. She finishes at the basket really well and vastly improved her outside shot. She is also a very good defender that will most likely defend the opponents best perimeter player.

 

A consistent player with a high basketball IQ is guard Kiki Samsel, who is considered one of the best shooters on the team and in the region. Over the summer Samsel also gained confidence being aggressive driving to the basket. She is also a good defender that makes few mistakes.

 

Freshman Harris who played many minutes on Butler's team last year is a welcome addition. She is very skilled with the basketball filling the need at the PG position with the graduation of Ashley Johnson. Harris is also extremely fast and possesses a good outside shot to go with a talent for getting to the basket.

 

The dark horse on this team that should have a breakout year for the Valkyries is Natalie Fichter. She is a phenomenal outside shooter that consistenly hits the three. She is also tall enough and savvy enough to snag rebounds.

 

The other leader of this team is the lone Senior center Lydia Taylor. Lydia has also improved her post moves and should consistently finish on the block. She will be counted on to defend in the paint. She needs to have a improved year and play well down the stretch for Sacred Heart to get past the other quality teams in the 7th region.

 

The expectations are high for this team to compete at a high level this year. I don't think any team wants to draw them in the regional tourney at the end of the year. They will be a tough out.

Who do they have after the Taylor girl in the middle?

 

They have three girls that should provide some depth in the paint.

 

6' Elizabeth Gardner is skilled offensively but may struggle guarding bigger players in the paint because she is thin. I look for her to get many minutes this year.

 

Cierra Scott is extremely athletic and is a diamond in the rough. Her primary sport is volleyball, so she came into the season rusty. She is a really good defender and should provide rebounding and shot blocking.

 

Taylor Utter is the other post player that should help in the paint. She is more of the old fashioned blue collar player that plays very physical. I see her getting the assignment of defending the best post player when she is in the game. She also can provide rebounding and put backs on the offensive end of the floor.

Passthe ball makes some very good points but as with any young team and Sacred heart is young, they will have to offset any youth with other factors. Heart is talented no doubt but I think their defense is the key for them. It can offset many errors of youth. The challenge is youth often means the defense is soft as the players have not learned to pay the necessary price that often is the difference between victory and defeat against strong opponents.

I saw the Fichter kid the Gardner kid and the Utter kid this summer in a couple AAU tournaments. I agree with you on the assessment of Fichter that she can provide much offensive firepower. She carried her AAU team in many games and she played with a bunch of the Eastern girls. She was easily the best player on her team in my opinion. However, she is a defensive liability. But in fairness, who can tell in an AAU game? The Gardner kid has a big upside in my opinion. She has a saavy nature with offensive strengths but needs to get much stronger to be effective. I see her being a huge asset by year end or next year for sure. The Utter kid did not impress me much. She has limited offensive ability, cannot or will not put the ball on the floor when needed. She can rebound but her defense is not that strong but once again how can you tell in an AAU game? But if a player cannot display any offensive firepower in AAU game it makes me wonder how much she could help Heart especially at such an early age. She needs to dedicate herself to much improvement.

The Taylor kid has not been asked to score much but in the past has appeared slow to react on defense and the few times I saw her she was in early foul trouble by not anticipating very well defensively. To her credit, she runs the floor very well and appears highly coachable.

It will be interesting to see how Coach Moir uses her personnel this season. I was inpressed with them this summer when I saw them in June at Elizabethtown and at UK team camp. They are the most interesting team in the 7th region because of their style and certainly fun to watch. If she can get them to play defense this team could make alot of noise in March.

Hit submit twice, sorry.

kyhoopfever, what region are you near and dear to? You seem to have knowledge of a lot of areas. Just starting to really follow girls high school basketball in the area you provide a lot of good insight, thanks. It looks like Scott County would be the place to go watch some good teams this weekend.

I am from near Lexington. I follow regions 9, 10, 11, 12 and have family in the Louisville area so I sometimes migrate to the 'ville for some games. I normally make the LIT for the last weekend in January. I camp out in Lexington for the big tournament before Christmas but this year our family is going on a Disney cruise so I will miss it. I simply love girls basketball in KY. I attend many summer events so I can watch the talent around the state. I have many connections in the AAU world as well.

How about you catchthe ball? where are you from? Do you have any kids playing on high school teams?

Just love the game! From Louisville, I mainly follow the 7th region, seems to be the best around here to follow.