How has Kentucky women’s basketball fared recruiting the state’s top in-state prospects?

Caroline Makauskas
·7 min read

The commonwealth’s girls’ high school basketball class of 2025 is uniquely talented and provides the University of Kentucky a target-rich environment to improve its program through recruiting.

Let’s take a look at just how talented next season’s junior class looks and how the Wildcats have fared historically in recruiting the state’s top prospects.

This past week, espnW released its latest iteration of the class of 2025’s HoopGurlz Recruiting Rankings, largely considered to be the most popular ratings for high school girls’ basketball. Three in-state recruits cracked the Super 60, with Sacred Heart’s ZaKiyah Johnson (No. 3), Mercy’s Leah Macy (No. 11) and George Rogers Clark’s Ciara Byars (No. 35) all within the top 40.

Johnson, Macy and Byars make up the commonwealth’s best-represented class in espnW’s rankings since 2018, when HoopGurlz featured five Kentucky natives, including four in the top 50.

Counting the high school class of 2025, since 2013 only 22 players from the state of Kentucky have been ranked nationally by HoopGurlz, with 14 of those in the top 40. While the official rankings for both 2024 — which currently does not have a Kentucky representative — and 2025 will continue to shift through the classes’ respective senior seasons, this trio’s stock has only risen over time.

Johnson, Macy and Byars have yet to commit to schools, but, as of May 17 when Byars tweeted that she had received a UK offer, Kentucky women’s basketball has now made scholarship offers to all three — Johnson in July 2020 and Macy in August 2021 before Byars this spring.

What are the odds that the Wildcats receive one or more of these commitments?

Going back 10 years, UK has secured signatures from 18 ranked recruits out of high school. Seven of those 18 signees were in-state recruits. Makayla Epps (No. 37 in 2013) is the only Kentucky native with a top-40 ranking to sign with the Wildcats out of high school during that period.

The breakdown

Following is a complete look at the espnW-ranked recruits from the high school classes of 2013-2023 who graduated high school in the state of Kentucky and/or signed with UK at any point in their college careers:

CLASS OF 2023

0 Kentucky natives, 0 UK signees

CLASS OF 2022

1 Kentucky native, 2 UK signees

▪ No. 69 Tionna Herron, DeSoto (DeSoto, Texas): UK/Texas

▪ No. 94 Amiya Jenkins, Anderson County (Lawrenceburg, Ky.): UK

Notable: The sole ranked recruit from the state of Kentucky on espnW’s class of 2022 recruiting rankings, Amiya Jenkins, is a rising sophomore at UK. Tionna Herron transferred to the University of Texas after sitting out her freshman season at UK recovering from open-heart surgery.

CLASS OF 2021

1 Kentucky native, 1 UK signee

▪ No. 65 Tiarra East, Butler (Louisville, Ky.): Temple

▪ No. 87 Jada Walker, Henrico (Richmond, Va.): UK/Baylor

Notable: UK’s lone signee from espnW’s class of 2021 recruiting rankings, Jada Walker transferred to Baylor after her sophomore season with the Wildcats.

CLASS OF 2020

2 Kentucky natives, 3 UK signees, 2 UK transfers in

▪ No. 19 Maddie Scherr, Ryle (Union, Ky.): Oregon/UK

▪ No. 29 Treasure Hunt, Hamilton Heights Christian Academy (Chattanooga, Tenn.): UK/Arizona State

▪ No. 43 Eniya Russell, Saint Vincent Pallotti (Baltimore, Md.): South Carolina/UK

▪ No. 83 Nyah Leveretter, Westwood (Blythewood, S.C.): UK

▪ No. 91 Erin Toller, Sacred Heart (Louisville, Ky.): UK/Georgetown College

Notable: Of the two recruits from the state of Kentucky, only Erin Toller initially signed with UK. Toller was later dismissed during her sophomore season. Of the three original UK signees, following Toller’s dismissal and Treasure Hunt’s transfer to Arizona State after her sophomore season, only Nyah Leveretter remains. Leveretter was, however, joined by Kentucky native/Oregon transfer Maddie Scherr and South Carolina transfer Eniya Russell ahead of the 2022-23 season.

2020 Miss Kentucky Basketball honoree Maddie Scherr is the only in-state, top-100 ranked high school recruit from Kentucky to transfer to UK over the last decade.
2020 Miss Kentucky Basketball honoree Maddie Scherr is the only in-state, top-100 ranked high school recruit from Kentucky to transfer to UK over the last decade.

CLASS OF 2019

0 Kentucky natives, 1 UK signee

▪ No. 62 Deasia Merrill, Villa Rica (Villa Rica, Ga.): UK/Georgia State

Notable: UK’s lone signee from espnW’s class of 2019 recruiting rankings sat out her freshman year at UK due to a knee injury before transferring to Georgia State.

CLASS OF 2018

5 Kentucky natives, 2 UK signees, 3 UK transfers in

▪ No. 17 Robyn Benton, Greater Atlanta Christian School (Norcross, Ga.): Auburn/UK

▪ No. 25 Jazmine Massengill, Hamilton Heights Christian Academy (Chattanooga, Tenn.): Tennessee/UK

▪ No. 30 Mykasa Robinson, Ashland Blazer (Ashland, Ky.): Louisville

▪ No. 32 Rhyne Howard, Bradley Central (Cleveland, Tenn.): UK

▪ No. 34 Olivia Owens, Niskayuna High School (Niskayuna, N.Y.): Maryland/UK

▪ No. 37 Seygan Robins, Mercer County (Harrodsburg, Ky.): Louisville/Tennessee-Martin

▪ No. 44 Grace Berger, Sacred Heart (Louisville, Ky.): Indiana

▪ No. 70 Blair Green, Harlan (Harlan, Ky.): UK

▪ No. 90 Ciaja Harbison, Male (Louisville, Ky.): Saint Louis/Vanderbilt

Notable: Of the five top-100 in-state recruits, only Blair Green signed with UK. Both of UK’s freshman signees, Green and Rhyne Howard, played their entire careers at UK. The Cats also welcomed transfers Robyn Benton, Jazmine Massengill and Olivia Owens ahead of the 2020-21 season.

Top-100 prospects Blair Green and Rhyne Howard made up UK’s two-member 2018 freshman class.
Top-100 prospects Blair Green and Rhyne Howard made up UK’s two-member 2018 freshman class.

CLASS OF 2017

2 Kentucky natives, 1 UK signee, 1 UK transfer in

▪ No. 4 Chasity Patterson, North Shore (Houston, Texas): Texas/UK

▪ No. 24 Lindsey Duvall, Bullitt East (Washington, Ky.): Louisville/NKU

▪ No. 71 Jaelynn Penn, Butler (Louisville, Ky.): Indiana/UCLA

▪ No. 85 Keondra “KeKe” McKinney, Fulton (Knoxville, Tenn.): UK/Charlotte

Notable: Neither of the two ranked recruits from the state of Kentucky spent any time at UK. The one ranked player signed to UK, KeKe McKinney, played four seasons at UK before transferring to Charlotte for her graduate season.

CLASS OF 2016

2 Kentucky natives, 1 UK signee

▪ No. 5 Erin Boley, Elizabethtown (Elizabethtown, Ky.): Notre Dame/Oregon

▪ No. 35 Lindsey Corsaro (Indianapolis): UK/UCLA

▪ No. 84 Breanna Glover, Glasgow (Ky.): Ole Miss/Campbellsville/WKU

Notable: Neither of the two ranked recruits from the state of Kentucky spent any time at UK. Corsaro, a McDonald’s All-American, signed with the Wildcats in the fall, then requested a release from her national letter of intent in the spring and signed with UCLA instead.

2016 Miss Kentucky Basketball Erin Boley transferred to Oregon after playing her freshman season at Notre Dame.
2016 Miss Kentucky Basketball Erin Boley transferred to Oregon after playing her freshman season at Notre Dame.

CLASS OF 2015

4 Kentucky natives, 4 UK signees

▪ No. 53 Batouly Camara, Blair Academy (Blairstown, N.J.): UK/UConn

▪ No. 55 Taylor Murray, Annapolis Area Christian School (Severn, Md.): UK

▪ No. 58 Maci Morris, Bell County High School (Pineville, Ky.): UK

▪ No. 79 Alexis Robinson, Ashland Blazer (Ashland, Ky.): Colorado

▪ No. 93 Morgan Rich, Allen County-Scottsville (Scottsville, Ky.): UK/Oklahoma

▪ No. 94 Reauna Cleaver, Elizabethtown (Elizabethtown Ky): Louisiana Tech

Notable: Of the four top-100 recruits who signed with UK, two hailed from Kentucky. Only two of UK’s signees, Taylor Murray and Maci Morris, played their entire careers with the Wildcats.

CLASS OF 2014

1 Kentucky native, 2 UK signees

▪ No. 20 Alyssa Rice, Reynoldsburg (Reynoldsburg, Ohio): UK

▪ No. 66 Alexis Jennings, Sparkman (Harvest, Ala.): UK/South Carolina

▪ No. 73 Ivy Brown, LaRue County (Hodgenville, Ky.): WKU

Notable: Of the two top-100 recruits who signed with UK, neither were Kentucky natives. Only Alyssa Rice played her whole career at UK, while Alexis Jennings transferred to South Carolina after her sophomore season with the Wildcats.

CLASS OF 2013

4 Kentucky natives, 3 UK signees, 1 UK transfer in

▪ No. 5 Linnae Harper, Whitney Young (Chicago): UK/Ohio State

▪ No. 6 Rebecca Greenwell, Owensboro Catholic (Owensboro, Ky.): Duke

▪ No. 37 Makayla Epps, Marion County (Lebanon, Ky.): UK

▪ No. 67 Chrishae Rowe, Santiago (Corona, Calif.): Oregon/UK/Ole Miss

▪ No. 72 Kyvin Goodin-Rogers, Marion County (Lebanon, Ky.): UK/WKU/Union University

▪ No. 90 China Dow, Christian Academy of Louisville (Louisville, Ky.): Middle Tennessee/Florida Gulf Coast

Notable: Of the three top-100 recruits who signed with UK, two graduated from Kentucky high schools. Only one of those UK signees, Makayla Epps, played her entire career at UK. Chrishae Rowe transferred to UK following a successful freshman season at Oregon, but was dismissed by head coach Matthew Mitchell ahead of the 2015-16 season before signing with Ole Miss.

2013 Miss Kentucky Basketball winner Makayla Epps, the No. 37-ranked recruit in the class of 2013, is the highest-ranked in-state prospect to sign with the Wildcats out of high school since 2013.
2013 Miss Kentucky Basketball winner Makayla Epps, the No. 37-ranked recruit in the class of 2013, is the highest-ranked in-state prospect to sign with the Wildcats out of high school since 2013.

Kentucky’s class of 2025 is a national treasure. Everyone wants in, and the race is on.