No. 2 Cooper takes nail-biter over upstart Danville Christian and its ‘Baby’ in Sweet 16
The No. 2 team in the state survived a Herculean effort to advance in the Mingua Beef Jerky Girls’ Sweet 16 late Thursday night at Rupp Arena.
Cooper, ranked second behind three-time defending state champion Sacred Heart in the Cantrall Ratings, took a 65-63 victory over Danville Christian Academy and star Grace Mbugua, who poured in a tournament-high 34 points for her Warriors.
“This is March,” Cooper coach Justin Holthaus said.
The Jaguars, who had four players in double digits, paced by Logan Palmer’s 15, used a 10-0 run in the third quarter to build distance from the scrappy 12th Region champs. The stretch mattered: DCA (29-3) outscored Cooper (30-4) 16-7 in the fourth quarter and got the margin to within a point with a minute left.
After Cooper’s Liz Freihofer went 1-for-2 at the free-throw line late, DCA with 24.8 seconds left inbounded the ball trailing 63-61. Mbugua, challenged by Cooper’s Maleah Alexander, lost the ball near the baseline. It was a rare miscue for the junior, who scored 17 points in the first quarter to push DCA out to a 20-12 lead.
Mbugua played the entire second half with four fouls after picking up her fourth under Cooper’s basket with 3:03 left in the first half. She’d re-entered the game just 19 seconds earlier, a decision head coach Billy Inmon says he’d make again.
“I wanted to have a second half to play for, so I rolled the dice,” Inmon said. “I’m not gonna comment on the call, but I looked at her and said, ‘I’m dern proud of ya, I thought it was the right play, don’t beat yourself up.’”
Mbugua added 14 rebounds, four blocks, three assists and two steals on a 12-for-18 shooting night. She was 3-for-4 from behind the 3-point line — well beyond the men’s line on a couple. The 6-foot-4 junior committed to Liberty University as a freshman but is starting to attract major college interest.
Her teammates and coaches call her “Baby.” “When she came she was 12 years old, I still remember seeing her passport,” Inmon said. “She was knobby-knee’d, didn’t weigh anything, and we just always say, ‘She’s da baby, da baby,’ and it just stuck.”
Danville Christian started playing varsity basketball in the 2018-19 season and was making its state-tournament debut. Cooper extended its third straight appearance, in part thanks to a pair of free throws by Freihofer with 19 seconds left to grow its lead to 65-61. She finished with 14 points and five rebounds for the Jaguars, who were to play Henderson County in Friday night’s 8:30 p.m. quarterfinal.
Freihofer and Palmer both played through foul trouble, too, with each picking up three in the first half. Palmer finished with four. “We just had to adjust to the officiating,” said Freihofer. “Everyone from the bench came in and stepped up, and we were able to still convert on the court when we were on the bench cheering them on. It was awesome to see them step up.”
Braxtyn Heck (six points, four assists) and Emily Musasi (six points, five rebounds) are the only seniors on DCA’s roster. The Warriors ran the table in the 12th Region this season (20-0) and should return nearly 90 percent of their scoring next winter. A tough loss should provide plenty of fuel for a group that nearly gutted out a historic victory.
“I just told ’em, this might be one of my favorite games that I’ve ever coached,” Inmon said. “ … I was really worried that they were just going to crumble and fold against such a veteran, unbelievable team. And instead they did what I’ve asked them to do all year: They glorified God with their effort and attitude. They were just amazing.”