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The Kentucky "Miss Basketball" honor recognizes the top female high school basketball player in the state of Kentucky. Due to Kentucky's status as a culturally rich basketball state, Miss Basketball winners are highly coveted student athletes by colleges throughout the United States. Originally, there was only a “Kentucky Mr. Basketball” from 1954 to 1975, until 1976 when they created an award for women as well. The reward is presented by The Kentucky Lions Eye Foundation and is given to senior players that have shown exceptional basketball skills. In the past 45 years, all but 1 of these players has gone on to play basketball in college and 4 of them have been drafted into the WNBA.

After Basketball was invented in 1891 at Springfield college in Massachusetts, it didn't take long for the beloved sport to spread across the nation. From the beginning, both women and men enjoyed playing the sport. At the University of Kentucky, there was a women's basketball team, organized in 1902, before a men's team. Unfortunately, basketball quickly became taboo for women in the 1920s and was even banned in Kentucky high schools and colleges in 1932. That is, until 1974 when Senator Baker passed a bill, later known as Baker's Bill, that if a school has a men's basketball team, they must have a women's team as well.

Award winners

Year	Player	High School	College	WNBA Draft
1976	Donna Murphy	Newport	Morehead State
1977	Geri Grigsby	McDowell	Kentucky
1978	Irene Moore	Breathitt County
1979	Beth Wilkerson	Paris	Old Dominion
1980	Lisa Collins	Laurel County	Kentucky
1981	Lillie Mason	Olmstead High	Western Kentucky
1982	Connie Goins	Franklin Co./Western Hills	Duke
1983	Clemette Haskins	Warren Central	Western Kentucky
1984	Carol Parker	Marshall County	Paducah Community College
1985	Bridgette Combs	Whitesburg	Western Kentucky
1986	Kris Miller	Owensboro Catholic	Kentucky
1987	Mary Taylor	Marshall County	Western Kentucky
1988	Kim Pehlke	Louisville Doss	Western Kentucky
1989	Lisa Harrison	Louisville Southern	Tennessee	1999 WNBA Draft: 3rd Rnd, 34th overall by the Phoenix Mercury
1990	Kim Mays	Knox Central	Eastern Kentucky
1991	Ida Bowen	Sheldon Clark	Western Kentucky
1992	Becky McKinley	Bullitt East	Kentucky
1993	Brandi Ashby	Webster County	Hawaiʻi/Western Kentucky
1994	Laurie Townsend	Apollo	Western Kentucky
1995	Ukari Figgs	Scott County	Purdue	1999 WNBA Draft: 3rd Rnd, 28th overall by the Los Angeles Sparks
1996	Jaime Walz	Ft. Thomas Highlands	Western Kentucky
1997	Rachel Byars	Union County	Western Kentucky/ Boston College
1998	Beth Vice	Montgomery County	Alabama
1999	Jody Sizemore	Leslie County	Morehead State
2000	Jenni Benningfield	Assumption	Vanderbilt
2001	Katie Schweggman	Bishop Brossart	Miami (OH)
2002	Erica Hallman	Holmes	Kansas
2003	Megen Gearhart	West Carter	Morehead State
2004	Crystal Kelly	Sacred Heart	Western Kentucky	2008 WNBA Draft: 3rd Rnd, 31st overall by the Houston Comets
2005	Carly Ormerod	Sacred Heart	Kentucky
2006	Arnika Brown	Christian County	Kentucky/St. Catharine/Western Kentucky
2007	Rebecca Gray	Scott County	North Carolina/Kentucky/Union College
2008	Tia Gibbs	Butler Traditional	Vanderbilt/Louisville
2009	A'dia Mathies	Louisville Iroquois	Kentucky	2013 WNBA Draft: 1st Rnd, 10th overall by the Los Angeles Sparks
2010	Sarah Beth Barnette	Lexington Christian Academy	Kentucky/Virginia
2011	Sara Hammond	Rockcastle County	Louisville
2012	Sydney Moss	Boone County	Florida/Thomas More College
2013	Makayla Epps	Marion County	Kentucky
2014	Ivy Brown	LaRue County	Western Kentucky
2015	Maci Morris	Bell County	Kentucky
2016	Erin Boley	Elizabethtown	Notre Dame/Oregon
2017	Lindsey Duvall	Bullitt East	Louisville
2018	Seygan Robins	Mercer County	Louisville
2019	Savannah Wheeler	Boyd County	Marshall
2020	Maddie Scherr	Ryle High School	Oregon/ Kentucky
2021	Brooklyn Miles	Franklin County	Tennessee

See also

List of Kentucky Mr. Basketball award winners

References

Kentucky Historical Society. (n.d.). Women's Basketball Banned in Kentucky. https://history.ky.gov/pdf/Library/LEGM002-Womens%20Basketball%20in%20Kentucky.pdf.

Miss Kentucky Basketball History. A Kentucky Tradition Since 1954. (2021, April 21). https://mrandmisskybasketball.com/miss-kentucky-basketball-history/.

Springfield College. (n.d.). https://springfield.edu/where-basketball-was-invented-the-birthplace-of-basketball.

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