Fueled by big crowd and bigger boards, Cooper rolls in Sweet 16 debut
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2022 Girls’ Sweet 16 coverage
Click below to read all of the coverage from Kentucky.com and the Lexington Herald-Leader during the Girls’ Sweet 16 State Basketball Tournament in Rupp Arena.
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Up 32-27 with less than three minutes to play in the third quarter, Cooper got an offensive rebound.
Then another.
Then another.
The Jaguars’ relentless pursuit of the basketball on that possession eventually earned them two free-throw attempts, and over the course of 32 minutes put them into the quarterfinals of the Mingua Beef Jerky Girls’ Sweet 16. They upended Pikeville, 57-37, in a first-round state tournament game Thursday at Rupp Arena.
BOX SCORE: Cooper 57, Pikeville 37
Cooper’s first time representing the 9th Region could not have gone much better in front of a decidedly friendly crowd. The school loaded up five buses worth of students; hundreds more stayed in Union because there weren’t enough wheels to bring them to Lexington.
“Obviously the girls, the whole program, fed off of that energy from the stands,” Cooper Coach Justin Holthaus said. “That was very special.”
The Jaguars won their 11th game in a row following a road loss at 9th Region rival Ryle, which three years ago became the first public school from the region to win a girls’ state title. Since giving up 53 points in that defeat, only two opponents — Newport Central Catholic (68-50) and Owen County (62-58, in overtime) — have reached the half-century mark against the Jags.
On the year, their opponents have scored just 41.4 points per game (26th fewest in the state). Pikeville was giving up only 37.9 points per game (No. 7 in the state) but Cooper’s defense faced much stiffer competition over the course of the season — including additional tussles with Ryle in the 33rd District and 9th Region title games.
Cooper played in Lexington Catholic’s holiday tournament, which typically features a tougher field than the state tournament, and played three-time defending 8th Region champion Anderson County twice on the road. No team on Pikeville’s schedule qualified for the Sweet 16.
“We are young,” said Holthaus, whose team boasts just one senior, Jesse Palmer. “But we kind of sped up the process last year with the COVID season to beef up our schedule. Then going into this year, we tried to make a really tough schedule over the holidays.”
That slate prepared Cooper for the level of competition it would see at Rupp Arena but also helped it develop quality depth in the wake of an injury to guard Kay Freihofer, who missed half of this season with a broken hand. The 5-foot-8 junior led the Jaguars on Thursday with eight rebounds, including the first of their three offensive boards in the late third-quarter possession.
Whitney Lind hit both of the ensuing free throws after that series to ignite a 15-2 run that lasted into the fourth quarter. Logan Luebbers Palmer, a sophomore, led Cooper with 22 points while Lind added 17.
Freihofer most of the afternoon was tasked with defending Pikeville star Trinity Rowe, who averaged 16.2 points per game coming into the contest. She held the sophomore to just six shot attempts and seven points. Rowe also turned the ball over seven times.
“She’s a really tough player,” Freihofer said. “We definitely prepared for her and had a game plan for her. I knew my teammates always had my back, so I was able to get up and pressure her. I think we did a really good job communicating on screens and we all worked together to hold her.”
The Jaguars feasted at the free-throw line, connecting on 22 of their 26 attempts. Pikeville, conversely, shot only two free throws the entire game. Cooper ended with a 26-17 advantage on the glass, including 15 on the offensive end.
“We have a lot of length and athleticism, so that definitely helps, especially on the defensive end,” Holthaus said. “ ... It’s just their mentality to go get balls.”
This story was originally published March 10, 2022 at 6:08 PM.
