Thanks to St. Elizabeth Healthcare Sports Medicine for sponsoring our girls’ high school basketball coverage once again this season. See all of our girls’ basketball stories here and watch for state tournament coverage March 8-12 from BB&T Arena on the campus of Northern Kentucky University.
By Evan Merrill
NKyTribune comntributor
Despite some big stage jitters, the Cooper girls’ basketball team overcame a rough start in its first-ever 9th Region tournament game and beat seven-time champion Highlands, 77-62, on Monday at BB&T Arena.
Cooper fell behind, 17-9, early in the game and attributed much of it to playing in the big arena that was a new stage for the players.
“We had been practicing at Thomas More (College), but still it’s different with all of the lights and everything,” said Cooper senior guard Haile Anderson. “I think we just had to get out all of our nervous jitters at the beginning, the turnovers and stuff, after that point, we were good.”
Highlands opened up with some tough defensive pressure that rattled Cooper. The Bluebirds forced early turnovers and caused the Jaguars’ leading scorer, Lexi Held, to get two fouls just a minute into the game.
“We knew when she went out we needed to take advantage of it,” said Highlands coach Jaime Richey. “We did a little bit, but not nearly as much as we needed to.”
Cooper ended the first quarter with a 6-0 run that narrowed the lead to 17-15 lead. After Held got back on the court, the Jaguars continued their charge and broke the Bluebirds’ press.
“They left the whole backside open,” Anderson said. “Once we realized that, Hailey Nicholas had a few wide open layups. Their press just didn’t seem like anything to us after that.”
Midway through the second quarter, Held scored six unanswered points to give Cooper a 24-23 lead. The Jaguars extended the margin to six, 32-26, at halftime and resumed their run in the second half to pull ahead by as much as 20 points, 50-30.
Highlands, led by senior Jenna Martin’s 20 points and sophomore Zoie Barth’s 15, made a charge late in the third quarter courtesy of an 8-0 run and continued it in the fourth, but the Bluebirds failed to reduce the gap to single digits.
Cooper iced the game late with free throws and were led by Anderson and Held with 18 points each. The Jaguars will now face 2015 state champion Holy Cross (19-10) in a 9th Region semifinal game at 6:30 p.m. Friday.
“It’s one game at a time,” said Cooper coach Nicole Levandusky. “The biggest thing is it’s the postseason. It’s you show up or you go home. The girls know that.”
Regardless of the outcome on Friday, Cooper’s program took a major step forward with its first regional tournament victory coming against a highly respected Highlands team.
“It’s great for the school, it’s great for the program, but most of all it’s great for the girls,” coach Levandusky said. “We’re finally getting it done. We’re not just that Cooper team you walk in the gym and walk all over. That’s been the focus — build a program, get respect for the school and the program. This is just another step in the right direction and we want to keep going.”
COOPER 15 17 18 27 — 77
HIGHLANDS 17 9 12 24 — 62
HIGHLANDS (22-9): Dill 1 0 2, Epperson 4 0 9, Martin 7 3 20, Barth 6 2 15, Buecker 3 0 6, Little 4 0 8, Jansen 1 0 2. Totals: 26 5 62
Cooper (21-7): Anderson 7 3 18, Held 6 4 18, Smith 2 7 11, Bleska 2 3 8, Nicholas 5 0 10, Mitchell 3 6 12. Totals: 25 23 77.
Three-pointers: H — Martin 3, Epperson, Barth. C — Held 2, Anderson, Blaska.