Sports
Grace Berger of WNBA: Louisville native, Indiana Fever rookie honored – Courier Journal
Louisville native Grace Berger has made a splash in the WNBA.
Berger, a Sacred Heart grad who played collegiately at Indiana, was named to The Associated Press’ All-Rookie Team on Sept. 12 after her first season with the Indiana Fever.
The seventh overall pick in the 2023 WNBA Draft, Berger played limited minutes during the first half of the campaign but came on strong down the stretch as a backup to veteran point guard Erica Wheeler. Averaging 14.6 minutes per game across 36 appearances, Berger tallied 4.2 points on 44.9% shooting, leading all rookies with a 47.1% (16-for-34) clip from 3-point range, to go along with 1.9 assists and 1.6 rebounds per contest.
Her best performance this season was July 12, when she totaled 15 points, seven rebounds, four assists and three steals, playing 36 minutes of an overtime loss to the New York Liberty. Three of her five double-digit scoring efforts occurred during the Fever’s final 12 games.
“You don’t know what you don’t know, coming in, so I was just bombarded with a lot of information,” Berger told The Indianapolis Star. “New sets, new style of play, having to learn what Coach Christie (Sides) wants on the floor as the point guard, as the leader on the floor, so I think I have just grown in my confidence in that area, being able to know what she wants and execute it on the floor with my team.”
Berger left IU this spring as the winningest player in program history, helping lead the Hoosiers to 118 victories from 2018-23. A four-time All-Big Ten selection, she ranks second at IU in career assists (573) and seventh in scoring with 1,841 points.
As a senior at Sacred Heart, she was named a Kentucky All-Star, The Courier Journal’s Female Athlete of the Year and the Kentucky Association of Basketball Coaches’ Seventh Region Player of the Year in 2018.
“She has all the skills,” Wheeler told The Indianapolis Star. “When her confidence is high, it’s a beautiful thing to see.”
The Fever finished the 2023 season 13-27, placing 10th in the 12-team league.
After 34 years at Bellarmine, the last 15 as the Knights’ assistant athletic director for communication, John Spugnardi is calling it quits.
Spugnardi, a Simpsonville, Kentucky, native who began working for the university as a member of its public relations team in 1989 before transitioning into sports in 2008, will retire Nov. 1.
“I have so many people to thank for making the last 34 years just an amazing ride,” he said in a statement. “From my everyday co-workers to students to college presidents to colleagues at other schools to volunteers at athletic events, I truly have had great experiences with all and couldn’t have been successful without each and every one.”
Bellarmine athletic director Scott Wiegandt said Spugnardi “helped drive our athletics department forward not only in the communications aspect but in event organizing and brand reach, along with many other components integral to growth and sustained success” as the Knights made the jump from Division II to Division I in 2020.
He called the task of filling Spugnardi’s void “impossible.”
“John Spugnardi has been the consummate PRO!!!!!” longtime Knights men’s basketball coach Scott Davenport said in a statement. “His greatest strength is he cares. Caring is a very special talent, often overlooked in every walk of life. The personal pride he demonstrated daily in all facets of his position was very special and something I will forever be thankful for. He deserves the right to enjoy every day; he earned it.”
With the KHSAA boys soccer playoffs looming, North Oldham (4-3-4) accomplished something no team has done this season: holding Butler (7-2-3) scoreless for 90 minutes.
Behind goals from seniors Reeves Sewell and Baraka Bakwire, and junior keeper Cooper Judy’s fifth shutout in six matches, the Mustangs took down the Bears 2-0 on the road Thursday night as they prepare to make a run for a fourth straight Eighth Region championship.
Butler, which won last season’s Sixth Region title, entered the contest having netted 33 goals across 11 matches.
“We just trust each other,” Judy said after the victory. “We’ve got the effort and the want to win.”
For more on the match, read Chris Mattingly’s dispatch from Shively for The Courier Journal.
Baseball: Fairdale’s Hunter Hicks (2024) on Sept. 8 announced having received a scholarship offer from Kentucky Christian.
Football: Male offensive lineman Isaac Sowells reeled in his 12th Division I scholarship offer Wednesday from Virginia. Louisville and Kentucky are among the schools in hot pursuit of the 2025 prospect.
Girls basketball: Whitefield Academy’s Allison Spieker (2024) is up to three scholarship offers, the latest to play for Bethel University at the NAIA level.
Softball: Ballard teammates Lilli Koch (2024) and Kady Dennis (2024) have committed to Georgetown College, while Eastern’s Hallie Roberts (2024) has committed to Lindsey Wilson College.
Louisville Bats left fielder Alejo Lopez preserved a shutout in the bottom of the seventh inning Friday night by gunning down Raimel Tapia of the Durham Bulls at home with an impressive throw on a hard-hit ground ball to the outfield.
The Bats went on to win, 2-0. Lopez drove in both of the team’s runs, and its pitching staff combined to strike out 21 batters. Right-handed starter Christian Roa accounted for 12 of the K’s.
Reach Louisville men’s basketball reporter Brooks Holton at bholton@gannett.com and follow him on X at @brooksHolton.
