Cooper and Ryle met Friday night at Cooper in a 33rd District boy-girl basketball doubleheader showdown.
The Jaguars earned the sweep on the evening as the boys opened with a 63-49 victory and the girls followed with a 56-51 win.
Here’s how they went down:
BOYS
Cooper 63, Ryle 49
Playing their first home game since Dec. 19, the Jaguars (7-4, 1-0) wasted no time getting to business as they jumped out the gates with a 15-2 lead.
On a night where Ryle (5-7, 0-1) keyed in on Jags leading scorer Andy Johnson, Cooper had four hit double figures in the victory, led by Johnson and Isaac Brown with 15 apiece.
“It starts in practice,” Brown said. “Every single day we’re swinging it around. We’re shooting, if you’re open, shoot it. Even if you’re off the bench, if you’re open, shoot it. If you put on this logo, we have trust in you. We all trust every single one of our guys.”
Jaidan Combs followed with 13, Roman Combs adding 10. But what they did on the offensive end, was thanks to what they were able to do on the defensive end. They stumped Ryle’s offense for the first six minutes of the game in holding them to two points and then dug down for the final 13 minutes of the game as they turned a two-point lead midway through the third quarter into double-digits by the end of the frame.
“I keep harping on this, but our schedule early on made us tougher,” Jaguars coach Tim Sullivan said. “We weren’t finishing games and we’ve got to be able to finish and make plays and trust each other and be detailed and do every little thing that we’re supposed to do. We’re learning how to do that now.”
After opening with a 15-2 deficit, Ryle found their footing and found themselves within four at half at 24-20 after a AJ Davis triple before the halftime horn.
They got things within 28-26, but were unable to continue the momentum from there.
PHOTOS: Cooper-Ryle slideshow (provided by Charles Bolton)
“We talk about with our kids all the time just toughness and resilience,” Raiders coach Nick Dorning said. “Basketball is a game of runs, the 33rd District is a game of runs and rock fights, they would make runs, we would make runs. Just didn’t have a good start and the kids did a great job staying poised. We stayed poised and bounced back and got within four at half.”
The pivotal stretch for the Jaguars came midway through the third when Chris Rodriguez, Isaac Brown and Julienne Knuckles all hit shots from 3-point range, Knuckles’ trey making it 43-32 at the end of the third.
“That nine points was extremely pivotal,” Dorning said. “We put a lot of attention on Andy, and felt like we did a great job on him. What got away from us with their role guys was them knocking down big time shots. That was the difference.”
Landon Lorms led the Raiders with 23 points, Davis finishing with 11. It puts Ryle in an 0-1 hole in district play with two more district contests to go against Conner and Boone County.
Ryle will play at Boone County in their next time on the floor on Wednesday at 7:30 as they look to get to 1-1 in district play.
Cooper gets off to a 1-0 start, critical to avoid being the No. 2 seed and not having to face Conner or Ryle in the first round of the district tournament.
“This is my 17th year here and it has never been easy and it never gets easier. It’s just a backyard brawl, man, and you got to fight for every little inch,” Sullivan said.
The Jaguars next contest is at home against Covington Catholic on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.
GIRLS
Cooper 56, Ryle 51
Similar to the boys game, Cooper (9-3, 1-0) got off to a fast start as they opened the game up 18-0 through the first six minutes of play.
Coming in as the No. 3 ranked team in the state and facing a 4-9 Ryle team that has three 8th graders on the court at certain times, the Jaguars got complacent and Ryle took advantage.
“We got off to that hot start, got a lot of stuff in transition, especially early on. Then I think our girls kind of at times were trying to get too much early, and we got a little bit selfish,” Jaguars coach Justin Holthaus said.
Ryle would close the first on a 7-0 run to make it 18-7.
Cooper remained comfortably ahead and were never really threatened until the closing minutes came. Up 53-33 in the fourth, Ryle started a furious rally with a 16-0 run capped by a Jaelyn Jones triple to make it 53-49 with 44 seconds left to play.
“You never want to lose, but I was proud of the way that they fought,” Raiders coach Katie Haitz said. “I was proud of the way that they were able to make adjustments that we needed to with either plan A or plan B and move forward with that.”
The Raiders were unable to keep the rally going, Cooper surviving the scare from their district rival.
PHOTOS: Cooper-Ryle slideshow (provided by Charles Bolton)
“There was times that we did some really nice stuff, but then there was some times where we showed how we were young and turning the ball over and forcing some shots and stuff like that,” Holthaus said. “But you know at the end of the day, we made some plays late, some of those winning plays. Obviously happy that we won, but they know that there’s a lot of work to do.”
Haylee Noel led Cooper with 21 points, Addyson Brissey adding 17 and Alivia Scott with 10. Zene Thompson chipped in eight as just four players entered the scoring column.
Cooper returns right back around on Saturday to host Anderson County at 5 p.m.
Ryle was paced by eighth grader Jayden McClain with 23 points and constantly deterring shots in the paint defensively. Jones added 13, Emerson Dowell with eight. Ryle dropped to 4-10 and 0-1 in district play.
“These girls come in with a good attitude and know that they’re getting better as a group,” Haitz said. “They know this is all about experiences and know our schedule is hard. We’re right there, this is not a thing where we’re putting them where they’re not going to succeed. Every time we play someone it’s more about experience and being able to handle situations.”
The Raiders return to action on Tuesday at home against Highlands in a 7:30 p.m. tip.