By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Basketball players prefer home games because they compete on a court where they spend countless hours working on their shots. That advantage worked for one local high school team but not for another on Friday.
In girls basketball, Cooper shot just 31 percent (14 of 45) from the field on its home court during a 52-40 loss to Louisville Sacred Heart, the state’s top-ranked girls team in preseason polls and winner of the last two state championships.
Last year, Cooper’s season ended with a 50-29 loss to Sacred Heart in the semifinals of the state tournament.
Things went much better for the Highlands boys basketball team in its home game against St. Henry on Friday. The Bluebirds made 15 3-point shots and converted 16 of 22 free throws to come away with an 88-80 victory.
In the Northern Kentucky boys basketball preseason poll, Highlands was No. 6 and St. Henry was No. 10.
Sacred Heart (5-0) took a 20-8 lead in the second quarter against Cooper (2-1). At that point, the Jaguars were shooting 19 percent (3 of 16) from the field, had three shots blocked and three turnovers.
Cooper managed to trim the deficit to 24-18 by halftime even though senior guard Kay Freihofer was injured during that run and junior forward Logan Palmer soon joined her on the sideline with an injury of her own.
With neither of those starters on the court, the third quarter ended with Sacred Heart holding a 39-24 lead. The Jaguars were 2-of-8 from the field using different player combinations in that eight-minute period.
Cooper junior guard Damysia Knox scored eight points during an 11-5 run late in the fourth quarter when the Jaguars pulled to within 46-37. But they went 1-for-9 from the field after that and Sacred Heart pulled away to post the 12-point victory.
The visiting Valkyries ended up shooting 50 percent (24 of 48) from the field and had three double-figure scorers. The team leader was junior center Angelina Pelayo with 17 points, followed by senior point guard Triniti Ralston (14) and ZaKiyah Johnson (11).
Cooper got 15 points from junior guard Liz Freihofer and 11 from Knox, who joined the team this season as a transfer student.
Cooper was voted No. 1 in the Northern Kentucky preseason coaches poll because it has four starters back from last year’s 9th Region championshjp team.
Highlands 88, St. Henry 80 (boys basketball)
St. Henry opened up a 47-34 lead early in the third quarter of the game at Highlands, but the Bluebirds outscored the visitors, 54-33, from that point on with nine 3-point goals accounting for half of their points.
Junior guard Braydon Moeves made four of the nine treys and finished with a team-high 23 points. The last five treys came from senior guard Will Herald and junior forward Brody Benke, who ended up with 19 and 11 points, respectively.
At the free throw line, Highlands senior guard Seth Ryan knocked down seven of 10 in the fourth quarter to add his name to the list of double-figure scorers with 15 points. Nathan Vinson made four foul shots in the final period to finish with 10 points.
St. Henry’s top scorers were senior forward Matt Resing with 22 points and senior center Braden Fedders with 21. The Crusaders had just five 3-point goals with Resing getting three of them.
A slum dunk by Resing got his team within five points, 82-77, with a minute remaining, but the Bluebirds hung on to extend their perfect record to 4-0. It was the third consecutive loss for the 2-3 Crusaders.