Mount Notre Dame star KK Bransford goes back-to-back as Ohio Ms. Basketball

KK Bransford, Mount Notre Dame's all-time leading scorer with 2,172 career points, has been named Ohio Ms. Basketball for the second consecutive season. 

Bransford is the sixth girls basketball player to earn the honor twice. She'll be playing for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish next year.

“Yes, college is going to be hard, but I think going to Mount Notre Dame — the challenges that it's given me — has prepared me well for college,” Bransford told SBLive Sports last month. 

Bransford is one of three Ohio girls basketball players to be named to the McDonald's All-American Game, along with Winton Woods' Chance Gray and Mason's Kyla Oldacre.

Now in its 35th year, the Ohio Ms. Basketball award was first given by the Associated Press in 1988. It has been voted by the Ohio Prep Sportswriters Association since 2017.

Reynoldsburg senior Imarianah Russell was runner-up. Finalists included Archbishop Hoban senior Lanae Riley, Olmsted Falls junior Paige Kohler, New Philadelphia senior Ajia Schreffler and Bloomdale Elmwood senior Brooklyn Thrash. 

Canton McKinley's Kierstan Bell is the only player to win the award three times.

The Ohio High School Basketball Coaches Association chose Russell as its Ohio Ms. Basketball last week.

Bransford averaged 21.3 points, 8.3 rebounds, 5.1 assists and 2.5 steals this season for the Cougars (26-1), a Division I regional finalist.

Mount Notre Dame lost to Mason in the playoffs, and the Comets went on to the state championship game, which Reynoldsburg won 63-56.