U of L among top college choices for SHA star Johnson

Sacred Heart Academy’s ZaKiyah Johnson, one of the nation’s top girls basketball recruits in the Class of 2025, has announced her top 12 college choices.

Johnson, a 6-foot guard/forward set to enter her junior season with the Valkyries, announced her list via X, formerly known as Twitter, on Sunday.

The schools on the list, in alphabetical order, are Arizona, Connecticut, Georgia, Louisiana State, Louisville, Mississippi State, Notre Dame, Ohio State, South Carolina, Southern California, Tennessee and UCLA.

LSU is the defending national champion. Louisville, Ohio State and South Carolina all reached the Elite Eight of last year’s NCAA Tournament.

Johnson narrowed the list after receiving approximately 40 NCAA Division I scholarship offers since her freshman season. ESPN’s HoopGurlz rankings list Johnson as the nation’s No. 5 recruit in the Class of 2025.

Johnson averaged 22.5 points, 8.0 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 2.0 steals last season for a Sacred Heart team that went 36-3 and won the school’s third straight state championship. She shot 52.5% from the field and 39.6% (80 of 202) from 3-point range.

Johnson has won back-to-back Gatorade Kentucky Player of the Year and Sweet 16 MVP honors. She played at Shelby County as a seventh- and eighth-grader and has totaled 2,346 points and 1,007 rebounds over four varsity seasons. She earned second-team All-State honors as an eighth-grader and first-team recognition the past two seasons.

Johnson and her Sacred Heart teammates will open the 2023-24 season on Nov. 27 at Southwestern.

SCOTT UTTERBACK/COURIER JOURNAL Sacred Heart’s ZaKiyah Johnson gets selected MVP for the all tournament team of the 2023 Mingua Beef Jerky Girls’ Sweet 16 Championship.