2022 LIT All-Tournament Team (Part One)

The Louisville Invitational Tournament, or LIT, is one of the most elite girls basketball tournaments in the state year in and year out. For anyone that is unfamiliar with the tournament, they essentially invite the top Louisville area schools, along with 4 of the best teams from around the state. This year the tournament featured 16 schools from the Louisville area, as well as Notre Dame, Bowling Green, Anderson County, and Franklin County. In this article, we will be looking at the all-tournament team members from the teams that made it to the championship, Bullitt East and Sacred Heart. Bullitt East came out victorious after pulling out a huge win over top-ranked Sacred Heart in overtime. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="254273" first="ZaKiyah" last="Johnson"] | Freshman | G/F | Sacred Heart - <em>Joyce Seymour Miss Offense Award</em></strong> As part of the all-tournament team awards, the LIT has the Joyce Seymour Miss Offense Award and the Bunny Daugherty Miss Defense Award which are awards that essentially acknowledge the offensive and defensive MVP for the tournament. For the past decade, every player who has won these awards has gone on to play college basketball at the Division I level, and the majority have had extremely successful careers. However, Johnson might be the first ever freshman to win this award. Versatile, athletic, long, skilled. You name it and Johnson can do it. In 3 of Sacred Heart’s 4 games, all 3 versus top 15 RPI teams, the freshman notched double-doubles. What I find most impressive about [player_tooltip player_id="254273" first="ZaKiyah" last="Johnson"] is that she makes everything look effortless. Every single team knew how skilled she was going into the game, and yet, they all failed at finding a way to stop her. Johnson might be the most special talent this state has seen in a long time. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="106141" first="Emma" last="Egan"] | Senior | G | Bullitt East - <em>Bunny Daugherty Miss Defense Award</em></strong> Egan is the kind of player every coach would feel extremely lucky to have. She does all the things that require more effort - plays great defense, gets every hustle play, boxes out, sprints the floor, takes no plays off, etc. There was a play she made in the championship game where it looked like Sacred Heart was about to get an easy layup and then Egan sprinted the length of the floor, came out of nowhere, and blocked the shot. A lot of the things she does on the floor don’t show up in the box score, but she could score 0 points every game and would still be an integral part of Bullitt East’s success. And let me be clear... she doesn’t ever score 0 points, so that just shows you how impressive the La Salle commit is. In the Chargers 4 LIT games, Egan averaged 9.5 points, 9.3 rebounds, 4.3 assists, and 1.5 steals. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="106153" first="Gracie" last="Merkle"] | Senior | C | Bullitt East</strong> Merkle put on a show for Bullitt East, really dominating on both sides of the floor. In their final 3 games of the tournament, the Bellarmine commit averaged a monstrous double-double (24 PPG, 12.7 RPG). She has such great touch down low and her shot blocking ability just keeps getting better and better. While she is tall enough to simply rely on her height, she really does not take that easy route and puts in a lot of work whenever she’s on the floor. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="199613" first="Lilly" last="Reid"] | Junior | G | Bullitt East</strong> Reid came in clutch in the final minutes of the championship game, scoring some key buckets including the layup that sent the game to overtime, but the junior was really solid all throughout the tournament. She’ll drive to the basket and it will appear like there’s nothing there, but she moves her body to create a shot in a way that will mesmerize you, especially on the left side. The thing I found most impressive about Reid was how much she wants to get her teammates involved. She could probably score more points herself, but she does whatever is best for her team which is impressive to watch. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="106151" first="Josie" last="Gilvin"] | Senior | G/F | Sacred Heart</strong> Gilvin truly does it all, including<em> all</em> of the effort plays. The Western Kentucky commit stuffs the stat sheet with points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks, but her hard work is what shines the most when she’s on the court. She’s one of the best defenders in the state, has great length, and is a super unselfish player. Gilvin's teammates have to love playing with her because she does all the dirty work and lets her teammates reap the rewards by creating for them. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="164387" first="Triniti" last="Ralston"] | Junior | G | Sacred Heart</strong> Ralston is one of the best point guards in the state. She is so quick and can handle the ball at an elite level. She can get to the basket whenever she wants, but oftentimes, she creates for her teammates and had multiple assists in all of Sacred Heart’s games. Defensively, she reads the passing lanes, keeps her hands active and is a really good on-ball defender. In my opinion, Ralston deserves more recognition that what she has received so far this season, but her opponents can vouch for her talent. &nbsp;