With as many times the Cooper and Ryle girls basketball teams have faced one another over the past couple years, they know each other like the back of their hands.
It was evident early on, the two teams scoreless through the first four minutes in Thursday’s 33rd District championship. Tied at 15 at halftime, it was a wonder if either team would get to 30.
In the end, Cooper prevailed led by their powerful offensive duo of Liz Freihofer and Logan Palmer mixed in with their stingy defense for a 45-34 victory. It marks the third straight district championship for the Jaguars and a seventh straight victory over their Union rivals.
“Anytime we get together with Ryle there’s no tricks,” Cooper coach Justin Holthaus said. “These girls have played against each other for like seven or eight years now. They know each other, there’s nothing special and it’s just about the will to win and battling through some adversity.”
Freihofer and Palmer combined to score Cooper’s 28 of 30 second half points, Palmer finishing with 21 points and scoring 13 in the fourth.
“It was hard to get it going from the three, I realized it wasn’t falling so I had to start getting to the basket,” Palmer said.
Freihofer finished with 15 points, nine of them coming in the third after fighting through early foul trouble.
“Picking up two early fouls was tough, I knew I had to lay off a little bit,” Freihofer said. “But coming into the second half I knew we needed some momentum, our whole team got going and they were able to feed me the ball and I was able to convert.”
Freihofer was later named the Tournament MVP.
The other end is where Cooper made a difference, forcing Ryle into 22 turnovers while Haylee Noel collected five steals, Maleah Alexander and Palmer with four each. Bella Deere provided the interior defense with a blocked shot and played nearly the entire game. Cooper turned those turnovers into 16 fast break points while the Raiders had just two on the fast break.
“We forced the turnovers we needed to and didn’t capitalize,” Raiders coach Katie Haitz said. “They forced the turnovers and capitalized.”
Alexander’s defensive play in the fourth quarter could be the defining moment of the contest. Leading 34-29 with a little over four minutes to play, Ryle had a 2-on-1 fast break, the one happening to be Alexander, who stole a pass and got Cooper started the other way, Logan Palmer was eventually fouled and making two free throws for a four-point swing.
“That’s Maleah. She’s gonna fight until the very end and she’s not gonna give you an inch and you’re gonna earn everything you get on her,” Holthaus said. “Everything that we preach about toughness and being disciplined, Maleah accomplishes that.”
Ryle was able to get within four after a Gracie Carrigan 3-pointer, but were held without a point from there until the closing seconds on a Quinn Eubank layup. It was another close call for the Raiders, but after 13 years of dominance over their district foes, have been unable to solve them as of late.
“All the little things we did really well in the beginning, we made them take the shots we wanted to and the turnovers started to cause some issues for us,” Haitz said.
Eubank and Carrigan led Ryle with 10 points apiece, Jaelyn Jones and Sarah Baker chipping in six points each.
The Raiders were in it throughout, trailing 7-4 after one before going into halftime tied at 15. Cooper separated in the third and took a 29-21 lead into the fourth, but Ryle responded with an 8-0 run to start the final stanza and knot the game at 29 with a little more than five minutes to play.
Palmer scored five points in 16 seconds to respond, followed by Alexander’s steal on the 2-on-1.
“That was huge. It goes from them scoring two and a four-point swing our way,” Freihofer said.
Cooper hit 10-of-11 free throws in the final two minutes to seal the deal. Not only did it give them their third straight district title, but also stretched their winning streak to 29 games over 9th Region opponents, not an easy task that annually churns out one of the most competitive regions in the state. Their last loss to a region opponent came Feb. 1, 2022 in a loss to Ryle.
Now the two will turn their attention to the 9th Region tournament and a rematch that could very well happen again in nine days in the region championship. Cooper owns a No. 1 seed, Friday afternoon’s draw determining if they’ll play district runner-ups St. Henry, Notre Dame or Bellevue in the first round of the region tournament on Sunday at Northern Kentucky University.
Ryle will face one of three district champions in Dixie Heights, Holy Cross or Highlands in the first round.
All-Tournament Team
JAGUARS 45, RAIDERS 34
RYLE — 4-11-6-13 — 34
COOPER — 7-8-14-16 — 45
Scoring
Ryle (34) — Eubank 10, Carrigan 10, Jones 6, Baker 6, Peters 2
Cooper (45) — Palmer 21, Freihofer 15, Thompson 4, Brissey 3, Noel 2
Game Stats
Field Goals: Ryle 14/39, Cooper 15/46
3-Pointers: Ryle 2/12, Cooper 5/18
Free Throws: Ryle 4/4, Cooper 10/13
Rebounds: Ryle 28, Cooper 24
Assists: Ryle 2, Cooper 7
Turnovers: Ryle 22, Cooper 13
Steals: Ryle 5, Cooper 15
Blocks: Ryle 4, Cooper 1
Fouls: Ryle 15, Cooper 9
Records: Ryle 19-11, Cooper 26-4