By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Cooper is one win away from claiming the championship trophy in the Queen of the Commonwealth girls basketball tournament for the third consecutive year.
In the first three rounds of the 16-team tournament, the Jaguars defeated Hopkins Central (51-37), North Hardin (53-37) and South Laurel (42-32) to raise their record to 5-2. They will take on Henderson County (6-4) in the championship game that’s scheduled for 5 p.m. Monday at Bullitt East High School.
In a statewide preseason coaches poll conducted by the Louisville Courier Journal, Cooper was No. 4 and Henderson County was No. 9. Both teams made it to the quarterfinals in last year’s “Sweet 16” state tournament.
Cooper won the Queen of the Commonwealth tournaments played in 2023 and 2024 under former head coach Justin Holthaus, who is now in charge of the boys program.
Christian Prohaska is the new head coach of the girls team and she named junior guard Haylee Noel the Player of the Game after Sunday’s semifinal win over South Laurel. Noel entered the tournament averaging 19.2 points per game.
Notre Dame (6-1) will play Louisville Manual (4-3) at 2 p.m. Monday in the fifth-place game of the Queen of the Commonwealth tournament.
Simon Kenton girls remained undefeated with a 44-30 win over Louisville Butler in the Holiday Showcase at Frederick Douglass High School on Sunday. In the final round of that six-team showcase, the 9-0 Pioneers will play Madison Southern (4-4) at 11 a.m. Monday.
Covington Catholic (7-1) will play North Oldham (6-1) in the fifth-place game of the King of the Bluegrass boys tournament at 4:30 p.m. Monday at Louisville Fairdale.
After the Colonels lost their first game of the season to Louisville Male, 77-69, in Saturday’s quarterfinals, they came back and beat North Laurel, 71-67, on Sunday. Senior guard Athens McGillis has scored 32, 35 and 27 points in CovCath’s first three tournament games for a 31.3 average. His season average is now 24.8 points per game.