Girls' Hoops

In Kentucky, basketball is a cultural obsession. The enthusiasm of Kentucky fans permeates every community in the state. Communities draw a sense of pride and identity from successful high school teams, and people support these teams by the thousands, especially in the rural, Appalachian mountain region of the state. In the towns of Whitesburg, Jenkins, and Hazard, girls teams dominate the basketball spotlight.

Of special interest amidst the debate over the value of Title IX support for women’s athletics, Girls’ Hoops explores the history of girls’ high school basketball in Kentucky — from its first heyday in the 1920s, followed by a 42-year ban on statewide competition, to its rebirth in the 1970s and development into the fiercely competitive, popular sport it has become today.

Filmed over the course of a basketball season, the program features exhausting practices, intense games, rousing half-time talks, championship performances and enthusiastic fans from small coal mining communities where a winning girls team is the talk of the town. Girls’ Hoops includes up-close interviews with today’s players and coaches, comments from a 94-year old player from a 1920s championship team, and interviews and game footage of the woman who broke the gender barrier in the mid-’70s.