One thing is certain, the Cooper girls basketball team will play anyone, anywhere, at any time.
The Jaguars were happy just to be back home after traveling 376 miles in round trips to Louisville’s Sacred Heart Academy on Friday and to Mt. Sterling to face Montgomery County on Saturday, two games that spanned about 19 hours apart.
Both of those ended in defeat, as did Tuesday night in a 56-51 loss to Purcell Marian, the reigning Division II champion in Ohio.
The results may be a bit of a downer as they dropped to 3-3 on the season, but this is what coach Justin Holthaus wanted.
“I told the kids at the beginning of the season we’re gonna challenge them,” Holthaus said. “That’s our job as coaches. We want to put ourselves in adverse situations on the road, against tough teams at home just to kind of see what we’re all about. We want to be playing well right now, but we want to make sure we’re preparing ourselves for the postseason and make sure we’re ready. It’s been a tough five days, but I think our kids are kind of seeing it and we’re getting better and better each day.”
The early season schedule has pitted Cooper against Division I prospect after Division I prospect, Tuesday no different as the Cavaliers have at least three on the roster. The top prospect Dee Alexander has her pick of where she wants to go for her college career, one of the top recruits for the class of 2025. She finished with 17 points as Cooper made things tough for her, 11 of those points having to come from the free throw line.
Then there was Seini Hicks, an Ohio State commit who transferred from West Clermont (Ohio) this season and is still working her way in. Hicks finished with seven points. But the x-factor was kind of an under the radar talent in Ky’Aira Miller, finishing with 19 points and coming through in vital stretches. Her personal 9-2 run in the second quarter gave the Cavaliers the largest lead of the night at 26-15.
Miller also drained two 3-pointers to start the fourth quarter, stretching what was just a 41-39 advantage to 47-42.
“She played a heck of a game,” Cavaliers coach Jamar Mosley said. “Made some huge plays throughout the night and really stepped up in that fourth quarter.”
Outside of a couple scoring droughts and a few costly turnovers in the final stretch of the game, Cooper kept responding.
Trailing 10-6 after one, a 5-0 run on a Maleah Alexander pull-up and a Liz Freihofer 3-pointer gave them a 11-10 edge in the early stages of the second.
Purcell Marian responded with a 16-4 run to make it 26-15, but the Jaguars answered with a 7-0 run before the half to get within four. Zene Thompson and Bella Deere gave the Jaguars strong stretches of play throughout the night. Those two have helped make Cooper even deeper this season.
“We’ve always preached sharing the ball and taking care of each other. Bella and Zene have continued to improve their game, whether if it was the offseason or here in the regular season,” Holthaus said. “They’re fighting and they want minutes and very proud of where we’re at with our depth. We’ve always talked about if you’re a one-man show or a two-man show, good teams can take that away, but if you have five pieces on the court that have their own little niche and can do different things, it makes you a little bit more dynamic and harder to scout for.”
The Cavaliers extended the lead back out to eight in the third, but Cooper answered with a 11-3 run capped off by a Deere triple to tie things up at 37 with a little more than two minutes remaining in the frame. Purcell would take a two-point lead into the fourth.
The Miller triples followed by two Dee Alexander free throws made it 49-42, but Cooper once again came rallying back to get within two at 50-48 after a Thompson layup with 2:30 to play.
A few Jaguars turnovers followed and the Cavaliers turned to Miller and Alexander to close it out, a Miller layup and four Alexander free throws, the last two with 10 seconds left to make the final score.
Cooper was right there, just like they were with three-time defending state champion Sacred Heart down four in the fourth and a little bit of a letdown to Montgomery County the following day in a nine-point loss where they led by 10 at halftime.
“I told the team you’re right there,” Holthaus said. “It’s possession by possession and if you’re going to play a team like Purcell and we had Sacred Heart last week, you got to value every possession and every possession we got to get great opportunities, great shots.”
Remember these games though. While one may see Cooper as a .500 team right now, they can certainly look back on these games in late February, early March as a starting point in their journey for a 3-peat in the 9th Region and a deep run at the state tournament.
“Whether it was a letdown on Saturday or not, we continue to talk about every single day is gonna be a little bit different,” Holthaus said. “We’ve got to have more consistency and our kids are figuring that out. We got a really good group and we’re excited about what we have.”
Next up is Conner, a 33rd District rival that features guess what? Another Division I player in Anna Hamilton, an NKU signee.
“We’re looking forward to Friday. There will be a lot of excitement in the gym,” Holthaus said. “We just need to worry about tomorrow, getting our reps and having a good practice. Conner is a really good team that has one of the best players in the region. We’ve just got to continue to focus and do our thing.”
Friday’s tip is 6 p.m. in the girl-boy doubleheader.
Cooper’s scoring leaders on Tuesday were Bella Deere with 14, Liz Freihofer with 14, Logan Palmer with 10 and Thompson with nine.
CAVALIERS 56, JAGUARS 51
PURCELL MARIAN — 10-16-15-15 — 56
COOPER — 6-16-17-12 — 51
Scoring
Purcell (56) — K. Miller 19, Alexander 17, Mosley 8, Hicks 7, Small 3, Day 2
Cooper (51) — Deere 14, Freihofer 14, Palmer 10, Thompson 9, Alexander 4
3-Pointers Made: Purcell 7, Cooper 4
Free Throws: Purcell 19/23, Cooper 9/13
Records: Purcell Marian 6-1, Cooper 3-3