By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
A young Cooper team that wants to extend the program’s three-year reign as 9th Region girls basketball champion this season showed it has the mettle to be a title contender in a 46-40 overtime win at Simon Kenton on Thursday.
The Jaguars, who have only one senior on the roster, came away with the victory even though they were behind 11-0 after the first quarter and trailed 27-19 going into the fourth quarter against the top-ranked team in the 8th Region.
“Any time you get a win on the road against a really good team like Simon Kenton I think it brings that mindset of we can do these types of things,” said Cooper coach Justin Holthaus. “This is a younger group, just returning one starter, so when you get a win through a lot of adversity, which there was, it shows a lot about our program and our kids.”
The Jaguars’ lone returning starter is 5-foot-10 sophomore Haylee Noel, who came into Thursday’s game with a team-high 14.6 scoring average.
After being limited to one 3-point goal through the first three quarters, Noel scored 10 points during her team’s 16-8 run in the fourth quarter that ended with the score tied at 35-35.
“They were still doing the same thing against us (on defense),” Noel said of the fourth-quarter rally. “I just feel like we were setting more screens to get my teammates open and me open and then finding open shots.”
Cooper took a 35-34 lead on a basket by junior guard Addyson Brissey in the final seconds of the fourth quarter. After Simon Kenton junior forward Meg Gadzalla made a game-tying free throw with 0:21 left on the clock, the Jaguars missed a field goal and the game went into overtime.
The extra period started with a 6-0 run by Cooper that included a fast break basket by Noel. The Pioneers pulled to within three points twice, but the Jaguars maintained the lead by making five of six free throws in the final 51 seconds.
Noel finished with 15 points, 10 rebounds and two assists. Her three field goals in the fourth quarter came on a spin move to the basket and a pair of 3-point shots.
“SK had the mindset coming in that they were going to make Haylee work for everything,” coach Holthaus said. “So we had to switch some stuff up where she was playing the high post and being more of screener. And that’s the great thing about Haylee. She doesn’t always need the ball in her hands to make us go. She made some good plays off the ball, too.”
Cooper’s other double-figure scorer was Brissey with 15 points to go along with six rebounds. She also did a great job on defense limiting Simon Kenton sophomore guard Brynli Pernell to 10 points, five below her average.
Pernell opened the game with a 3-point goal and got all 10 of her points in the first half.
“I knew she was going to shoot the three so I just had to stay up on her,” Brissey said. “I feel pretty confident in my defense. I knew I just had to stay solid and stay down and just fight.”
Simon Kenton coach Jeff Stowers, who has three juniors, two sophomores and one freshman in his starting lineup, said his team followed its scouting report for three quarters and then faltered at the end.
“Out of everybody on the floor, you don’t leave (Noel) wide open,” he said. “And then we got stagnant on the offense end, and that’s a bad mix. This is three games we’ve lost in the same fashion. It came down to the last two minutes and we let (the other team) loose.”
Simon Kenton also lost closes games to North Laurel, 42-39, on Jan. 16 and Franklin-Simpson, 48-45, on Dec. 22. Both of those teams were ranked among the top 10 in this week’s statewide media poll.
The same poll had Cooper at No. 4 and Simon Kenton at No. 13. On Saturday, the Jaguars will visit No. 15 Notre Dame and the Pioneers will play Campbell County at Hoosier Gym in Indiana.
SIMON KENTON 11 11 5 8 5 — 40
COOPER 0 15 4 16 11 — 46
SIMON KENTON (14-4): Pernell 3 3 10, Gadzala 1 1 4, Ober 5 2 13, Kelch 2 0 4, Webb 3 3 9. Totals: 14 9 40.
COOPER (13-4): Brissey 5 4 15, Hooper 0 3 3, Noel 5 2 15, Scott 2 2 6, Thompson 2 3 7. Totals: 14 14 46.
Three-point goals: C — Noel 3, Brissey. SK — Ober, Gadzalla, Pernell.