Malachi Moreno at Rupp Arena earlier this season. (Vicky Graff Photo)
It’s rare enough for Kentucky high school basketball to produce one McDonald’s All-American but never has Kentucky produced three in the same year until now.
The McDonald’s All-American Game rosters were released Monday and three in-state players were selected — Kentucky signee Malachi Moreno, LSU signee ZaKiyah Johnson and Notre Dame signee Leah Macy.
Moreno is ranked as the 23rd best player in the 2025 recruiting class according to ESPN and one of the top three centers. He is averaging 21.4 points and 14.1 rebounds per game and shooting 69 percent from the field.
Moreno becomes the 79th McDonald’s All American to sign with Kentucky since the game first began in 1977, and just the sixth homegrown selection, joining Dirk Minniefield (1979), Winston Bennett (1983), Rex Chapman (1986), Rajon Rondo (2004) and Reed Sheppard (2023).
Johnson and Macy have both been consensus top 20 players in their recruiting class for two years and are only the sixth and seventh Kentuckians to be named McDonald’s All-Americans since the game was started in 2002. In-state players named before them were Ryle’s Maddie Scherr (2020), Elizabethtown’s Erin Boley (2016), Marion County’s Makayla Epps (2013), Owensboro Catholic’s Becca Greenwell (2013) and Rockcastle County’s Sarah Hammond (2011).
The McDonald’s All-American Games will take place April 1 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Johnson is a three-time state champion who won MVP honors each year and three-time Kentucky Gatorade Player of the Year. She is the first McDonald’s All-American from Sacred Heart.
The 6-foot Johnson is averaging 22.9 points, 7.0 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 2.5 steals per game for Sacred Heart which beat nationally ranked Incarnate Word 93-79 last weekend. Sacred Heart is 14-2 and again ranked No. 1 as it pursues a fifth straight state title. Johnson is the fourth player Sacred Heart player to have over 1,000 rebounds and second player to have 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds
The 6-3 Macy is averaging 27 points and 13.4 rebounds for Bethlehem (16-2). She has scored over 3,000 points and was pursuing 2,000 rebounds before she was injured at the start of the All “A” Classic state title game Sunday and did not return. She had 44 points and 16 rebounds in a semifinal win over Bishop Brossart. She is hitting 64 percent from the field.
