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When it comes to Kentucky’s two biggest girls’ basketball tournaments in the regular season, Manual and Mercy have dominated over the past two years.

And as the Republic Bank/Coca-Cola Louisville Invitational Tournament gets set to tip off today at Bellarmine University’s Knights Hall, the Lady Crimsons and Jaguars again figure to be among the favorites for the championship.

Manual (17-2) is the state’s co-No. 1 team in The Courier-Journal’s Litkenhous Ratings, and Mercy (17-3) is No. 5. The teams have met in the past two LIT finals and in the past two finals of the Republic Bank Holiday Classic at Lexington Catholic, splitting those four meetings.

“We’ve all played each other and played some other top competition, and Mercy and Manual have both come out on top,” said Sacred Heart coach Donna Moir, evaluating the top teams in Louisville this season. “They look to be the top two teams.”

The 12 Louisville teams in the LIT will meet in first- and second-round games starting at 3:30 p.m. today and Wednesday. The four survivors move to Friday’s quarterfinals, where four solid out-of-city teams await – co-No. 1 Marion County, No. 4 Perry County Central, No. 6 South Oldham and co-No. 13 Madison Central.

The semifinals are set for 10 and 11:30 a.m. Saturday, with the final at 8 Saturday night.

Manual suffered its first two losses of the season earlier this month — falling by two points each to Mercy and Marion County — but bounced back last week with solid victories over No. 11 Ryle and nationally ranked Twinsburg (Ohio).

Seniors Kara Wright (13.7 ppg) and April Wilson (12.7 ppg) lead the Lady Crimsons in scoring.

Mercy enters with a seven-game winning streak after handing Perry County Central its first loss of the season, 71-61, on Saturday.

Perry County Central coach Randy Napier was impressed with the Jaguars.

“Mercy is just so fundamentally sound,” he said. “They can get you out of position even when you know what they’re doing. We knew exactly what they were doing, and they still got what they wanted. It’s frustrating, but good teams do that to you.”

No. 17 Butler (13-7) and Sacred Heart (12-8) were the other Louisville teams to receive first-round byes.

The Bearettes started the season 10-3 but are just 3-4 since then while playing a difficult schedule.

The Valkyries had won three straight before falling 53-49 to Ryle in overtime on Saturday. Sophomores Raven Merriweather (13.0 ppg, 6.1 rpg) and DaiJia Ruffin (12.1 ppg, 7.1) lead Sacred Heart in scoring and rebounding.

“On any given night we can beat anybody,” Moir said. “With us coming into the season with no returning starters, I’m really pleased with where we are right now. We’ve been in every game we’ve played.”

Among the eight teams playing in the first round, Ballard (14-5) and Christian Academy (14-8) look to have the best shots to spring an upset or two.

Ballard beat CAL 75-64 on Friday as freshman Alex Martin scored 30 points. Ballard sophomore Javonna Layfield (9.5 ppg, 9.3 rpg) is expected to miss the rest of the regular season with a knee injury.

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