By Dan Weber NKyTribune sports reporter
They said all the right things after the game, the Cooper Lady Jaguars did, in describing how they won their third straight Ninth Region basketball championship at NKU’s Truist Arena Saturday night.
But during the game, the only thing Cooper seemed to be telling themselves was this: Leave no doubt.
Sure they’d played really good defense in the two wins over their crosstown rivals this season, holding Ryle’s Lady Raiders to an average of 33 points. Was there any better way for the state’s No. 2 team, with wins in 25 of their last 26 games, to show exactly who were the Queens of Union?
How about shutting out a Ryle team, No. 3 in the Ninth Region, in the first quarter despite foul trouble for Cooper stars Liz Freihofer and Bella Deere. How about allowing Ryle just eight points on four field goals – out of 23 shots – in the entire first half.
How about finishing strong for a 51-26 final score that made it clear that this Cooper team is all about taking it farther than a first-round flameout as happened in last year’s Sweet 16.
Cooper Coach Justin Holthaus couldn’t wipe the smile off his face, gathering his team around them after the trophy presentation as he scanned the final stat sheet.
“We gave up 30 against Holy Cross,” he told them, “and 26 against Ryle . . . unbelievable.” And he wasn’t talking about the 51 points, he was talking about the one thing every Lady Jaguar lives for – playing defense and getting better at it as they go.
Just ask Maleah Alexander, Cooper’s senior point guard who doesn’t quite look the 5-foot-7 she’s listed at although that may be because she’s asked to defend the opponent’s top player, as she was on this night, Ryle’s 6-foot Quinn Eubank.
“I’ve just always been an aggressor,” she says with a bright bubbly smile. And that means being the best she can be attacking people with the ball – or not letting them get it. “Not a lot of people do that,” Maleah said.
For Cooper, it’s contagious. Not that the Lady Jags have a choice. Ask any one of them. “If you don’t play defense, you won’t play,” they’ll tell you.
So they do. And not because they have to but because they like to play that way because that’s the way they win.
“It’s special, the fight, the will they have,” Holthaus said. “This bunch is not going to give you an inch . . . our guys are so confident, it’s next level thinking . . . we’ll go mano a mano with you . . . and Maleah sets the tone . . . they’re just so unselfish.”
Not to mention unconscious, if only for a little bit, said Alexander after running full-out into a blind-side pick. “I definitely blacked out,” she said trying to go head-on against the bigger Ryle front-liners. But she bounced back into the game after a short spell on the bench. Just as teammate Logan Palmer did earlier after getting rocked in a loose ball scrum.
“Maleah is such a warrior,” said Holthaus. “They’re all giving up size and length.” But not fight or fundamentals.
It’s something Maleah worked with her father on for this game knowing she’d be matched up at a size disadvantage and how to work on lower body strength, footwork and balance to stand her ground.
Even so, Ryle’s two big inside players, Eubank and 6-2 Sarah Baker led the Lady Raiders, who finished the season 21-12, with 10 points apiece. Ryle converted just 11 of 36 (30.6 percent) from the field (two of 10 from three-point range) and just two of four free throws with 17 turnovers, six more than their made field goals.
Cooper hit on 21 of 43 (48.8 percent) from the field, and six of 11 from the three-point arc, with nine turnovers and 12 steals.
There was also postgame talk about how Cooper’s Freihofer, the Ninth Region Tournament MVP who fired in a game-high 19 points, nearly equaling Ryle’s total, was not named to the first team for the Coaches All-Regional Team this season.
“I’d much rather be Ninth Region champ than Player of the Year,” Freihofer said after drawing a quick knockdown charge in the second straight game. A tone-setter she says.
But not about her. “We got huge play off the bench,” Freihofer said, “with Bella and me in foul trouble.”
And then there was the motivation, for a player like Freihofer who has been here for five years now. “I definitely remember when we got smoked by Ryle those early years.”
Just no more. Cooper left no doubt of that.
NINTH REGION NOTEBOOK
Cooper moves on to the Sweet 16 Thursday at Rupp Arena, having been slotted into the last game of the first round, at 8:30, against the champion of the 12th Region, a 29-2 Danville Christian team that lost 79-49 to Owensboro Catholic in the All “A” Classic second round at Corbin in a tournament won by Holy Cross . . . Named to the Ninth Region All-Tournament Team, led by MVP Freihofer, were: Maya Lawrie, Notre Dame; Kayla Unkraut, St. Henry; Catherine Buddenberg, Dixie Heights; Paulina Long, Bellevue; Marissa Green, Highlands; Saylor Macke, Highlands; Julia Hunt, Holy Cross; Miyah Wimzie, Holy Cross; Quinn Eubank, Ryle; Sarah Baker, Ryle; Bella Deere, Cooper; and Maleah Alexander, Cooper.
SCORING SUMMARY
COOPER 8 12 18 13—51
RYLE 0 8 14 4—26
COOPER (29-4): Brissey 1-1 0-0 0-0 2, Jones 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, Noel 3-8 1-3 0-0 7, Johnson 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, Rankin 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, Alexander 2-7 1-3 1-2 6, Scott 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, Deere 2-3 0-1 0-0 4, Thompson 3-5 1-2 0-2 7, Cooper 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, Freihofer 7-12 3-3 2-2 19, Palmer 3-7 0-0 0-0 6, Smith 0-0 0-0 0-0 0; TOTALS: 21-43 6-11 3-6 51.
RYLE (21-12): Eubank 5-11 0-2 0-0 10, Ascherman 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, Peters 0-1 0-0 0-0 0, Miller 0-2 0-1 0-0 0, Fong 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, Dowell 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, Jones 2-5 2-4 0-0 6, Singel 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, Carrigan 0-5 0-3 0-1 0, McClain 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, A. Warner 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, Hampton 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, Elliott 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, R. Warner 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, Baker 4-12 0-0 2-2 10; TOTALS: 11-36 2-10 2-4 26.
Contact Dan Weber at dweber3440@aol.com. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @dweber3440.