By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
The latest episode of the rip-roaring rivalry between Cooper and Ryle in girls basketball took place in the 33rd District title game on Thursday and it all came down to the final 12 possessions for each team.
Ryle opened the fourth quarter with an 8-0 run that tied the score, 29-29, but the Raiders committed turnovers on seven of their last 12 possessions. That allowed Cooper to end the game with a 16-5 run on its final 12 possessions and come away with a 45-34 victory at Conner High School.
It was the Jaguars’ seventh consecutive win against their neighboring rival and extended their win streak against 9th Region teams to 29 in a row over the last three seasons.
“It never gets old because we love to win,” said Cooper senior guard Meleah Alexander. “We are champions all the way around. We want to continue to play with one another and continue this season, so we’re going to keep on winning.”
Cooper will take a 26-5 record and eight-game win streak into the 9th Region tournament that the Jaguars won the last two years.
A draw will be held Saturday to determine pairings for first-round games on Sunday at Northern Kentucky University’s Truist Arena. The tournament field will also include Dixie Heights, St. Henry, Holy Cross, Notre Dame, Highlands, Bellevue and Ryle, the team that lost to Cooper in the region final the last two years.
If the rivals meet again, Ryle coach Katie Haitz said her team has to take better care of the basketball than they did Thursday. The Jaguars were able to make 15 steals with six coming on the Raiders’ final 12 possessions.
“I felt like we did all the little things really well at the beginning (of the fourth quarter) and made them take shots that we wanted them to,” Haitz said. “And then, just the turnovers started causing issues for us.”
Cooper senior forward Logan Palmer scored 13 of her game-high 21 points in the fourth quarter. The team’s other double-figure scorer was senior guard Liz Freihofer, who got nine of her 14 points in the third quarter when the Jaguars took a 29-21 lead.
After Ryle tied the score early in the fourth quarter, Cooper coach Justin Holthaus called a timeout. That’s when Palmer told him she wanted the ball to come to her on offense.
“When you’ve got kids that are telling you that, that you trust in and believe in, then you get them the ball and she did a really good job,” Holthaus said.
Freihofer was named the tournament’s most valuable player and Palmer joined her on the all-tournament team. Alexander didn’t score in the district final, but she was an all-tournament selection for what she did on defense.
Alexander spent most of the game tracking Ryle senior guard Quinn Eubank, who made a last-second basket to finish with 10 points, six below her team-leading average.
“Meleah’s just scrappy and she’s going to give it her all on every single possession,” said coach Holthaus. “Everything we preach about toughness and being disciplined, Meleah just encompasses everything.”
Guarding an opponent’s best player is nothing new for Alexander. That’s why she was voted Defensive Player of the Year on the Division I all-conference team by local coaches.
“I’ve always taken pride in (defense) just because I like it, but (my teammates), not so much,” she said. “But we all do it because that’s obviously how we win games.”
Other players named to the 33rd District all-tournament team were Eubank and Jalen Jones of Ryle, Anna Hamilton of Conner and Mya Bennett of Boone County.
COOPER 7 8 14 16 — 45
RYLE 4 11 6 13 — 34
COOPER (26-5): Brissey 1 0 3, Noel 1 0 2, Thompson 2 0 4, Freihofer 5 3 15, Palmer 6 7 21. Totals 15 10 45.
RYLE (19-11): Carrigan 4 0 10, Jones 2 2 6, Baker 3 0 6, Peters 1 0 2, Eubank 4 2 10. Totals: 14 4 34.
Three-point goals: C — Freihofer 2, Palmer 2, Brissey. R — Carrigan 2.