By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Highlands coach Jaime Richey needed to boost her team’s confidence after the Bluebirds found out Friday morning that they would face four-time defending champion Cooper in the first round of the 9th Region girls basketball tournament.
“I wasn’t there on Friday when my assistants told them who we played,” Richey said. “I immediately sent them a message Friday night before the boys game and just said, ‘It’s tournament time, you’ve got to believe. Coaches are going to come with a game plan and we’ve got to execute it.'”
Those words worked wonders. Highlands upset Cooper, 51-42, in Sunday’s opening round at Truist Arena and advances to the region semifinals for the second straight year.
In the final statewide media poll, Cooper was No. 6 and Highlands didn’t get a single vote. But the Jaguars struggled on score against the matchup zone defense the Bluebirds came up with during a pre-game practice on Saturday.
“It’s tournament time and you’ve got to do different things,” Richey said. “We hadn’t done this (defense) a lot, so we just changed it up and the the girls came out and did a great job.”
The defense worked so well that Cooper made just one field goal in the second quarter and trailed 23-14 at halftime.
When the margin increased to 34-17 midway through the third quarter, the Jaguars made a defensive switch that got them back in the game.
Using trapping full-court defensive pressure, Cooper scored 12 straight points off turnovers to pull within 34-29 and throw a scare into coach Richey.
“We made a great play and missed an open layup and I was, ‘Oh God, we’re nervous as can be,'” Richey said. “But they righted the ship and we did great.”
In the fourth quarter, the Bluebirds went on an 8-0 run that put them ahead, 46-32, with 1:44 left on the clock. Two of the field goals were layups that came after penetrating the full-court pressure. Their final five points came on free throws.
Cooper shot 33.3 percent (15 of 45) from the field and committed 12 turnovers. Junior guard Haylee Noel accounted for most of the Jaguars’ scoring total with 24 points.
“Just a total lack of execution at both ends of the floor,” Cooper coach Christian Prohaska said of her team’s performance. “Highlands did a great job. They executed. They just played hard and you’ve just got to give it to them.”
The Bluebirds shot 43.8 percent (14 of 32) with balanced scoring led by eighth-grader Solu Nzekwu with 11 points. Freshman forward Bailey Richey, the coach’s daughter, had 10 points and eight rebounds. Highlands won the battle on the boards, 31-20.
“It’s really big,” Bailey said of the upset victory. “No one thought we would win, so it’s cool to come out here and have the energy to beat them.”
Highlands will play Notre Dame in a region semifinal rematch at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. Last year, Notre Dame won the matchup and advanced to the championship game. The last time Highlands made it to the region final was 2013.
“They’re a really good team,” coach Richey said of Notre Dame, ranked No. 11 in the state media poll. “They’ve got scorers at all levels, so we’ve got to come out and have another good game plan.”
HIGHLANDS 9 14 13 15 — 51
COOPER 11 3 16 12 — 42
HIGHLANDS (18-11): Richey 0 10 10, Mills 3 0 8, Neufarth 0 1 1, Lickert 2 0 4, Bucher 2 4 8, Nzekwu 4 3 11, Barber 3 1 9. Totals: 14 19 51.
COOPER (20-9): Brissey 1 3 5, Hooper 2 1 6, Noel 9 2 24, Rankin 1 0 3, Scott 2 0 4. Totals: 15 6 42.
Three-pointers: H — Barber 2, Mills 2. C — Noel 4, Rankin, Hooper.
Notre Dame 51, St. Henry 25
It’s not easy designing a defense to use against the Notre Dame girls basketball team. The Pandas have good size, capable ball handlers and productive perimeter shooters to contend with.
In the opening game of the 9th Region tournament on Sunday, Notre Dame faced a triangle-and-two defense and rolled to a 51-25 win over St. Henry at Truist Arena.
The Pandas worked together so well that they had 17 assists on 18 field goals and got 22 points off the bench. It was also the fifth time this season that they held an opponent to 30 points or less.
“We’re a tough team to triangle-and-two against because the strength of our team is our balance,” said Notre Dame coach George Stoll. “We can score in a bunch of different ways.”
St. Henry had two players guarding Notre Dame’s best outside shooters and limited each of them to one field goal. But the triangle part didn’t work very well against senior guards Josalyn Humphrey and Addie Lawrie, who scored a combined total of 28 points.
Humphrey got 11 of her 15 points in the first half that ended with Notre Dame holding a 21-12 lead. Lawrie knocked down three 3-point shots in the second half to account for nine of her 13 points.
The Pandas’ assist leader was junior guard Erin McGraw with six. She also had four rebounds and three steals.
“We are doing a really good job of sharing the basketball,” coach Stoll said. “We’ve done it through the year, but I’d say especially over the past month we’ve been sharing it extremely well. We have a bunch of unselfish girls who want the team to win first and foremost.”
St. Henry was limited to two points in both the first and third quarters. The Crusaders ended up shooting 29.4 percent (10 of 34) from the field and committed 20 turnovers. Their leading scorer was sophomore center Caroline Brannen with six points.
For the second straight year, Notre Dame will face Highlands in a region semifinal game at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. The Pandas won last year’s game, 52-43, and got past the Bluebirds, 45-42, in a game this season.
NOTRE DAME 12 9 10 12 — 51
ST. HENRY 2 10 2 11 — 25
NOTRE DAME (22-7): Stallard 1 0 3, Wagner 1 1 3, McGraw 1 0 2, Young 2 0 6, Holtzapfel 1 0 3, Middendorf 2 0 6, Lawrie 4 2 13, Humphrey 6 2 15. Totals: 18 5 51.
ST. HENRY (17-13): Bollman 1 0 2, Bain 2 1 6, Francis 1 0 3, Wood 1 0 2, Powers 1 2 4, Brannen 3 0 6, Wilmhoff 1 0 2. Totals: 10 3 25.
Three-pointers: ND — Lawrie 3, Young 2, Middendorf 2, Holtzapfel, Stallard, Humphrey. SH — Bain, Francis.