Not an inch.
That’s what the Cooper girls basketball teams prides itself on the defensive end.
It was on full display Saturday night in the 9th Region championship game at Northern Kentucky University’s Truist Arena, shutting down Ryle in a 51-26 victory, the Jaguars earning their third straight region title.
Forget an inch, Ryle couldn’t even find a centimeter to open up, held scoreless in the first quarter.
“It’s unbelievable, just the will of our kids,” Cooper head coach Justin Holthaus said. “To hold Holy Cross to 30 last night and then turnaround and hold Ryle to 26. It’s special. It’s just the fight and the will.”
It wasn’t the only time in this tournament Cooper would hold an opponent scoreless in a quarter, doing so with Bellevue to open up in the quarterfinals.
Defense isn’t something that’s taught overnight. It takes a buy in from the players in practice all the way to the games. There’s no doubt how much Cooper is dialed in there.
“Just always being an aggressor,” senior Maleah Alexander said. “It’s a mindset. I tell the girls every single day you have to think like, ‘I’m the best and I’m going to stay in front of this girl and do what I need to do to not let her score.’ Just a mindset that someone is not going to beat me.”
Alexander’s defensive prowess earned her All-Tournament team honors along with Bella Deere. In an era where scoring is the first thing people look at, those two embody what it means to be a defensive stopper. The two aren’t going to go out and score 20 on any given night, but they can be counted on to guard the opponent’s best player and limit them in every way possible. It’s a staple of the Cooper team that’s now won 32 straight games against 9th Region opponents, a streak dating all the way back to February 2022.
The 9th Region is no slouch either, it annually puts out a couple of teams that compete with the state’s best, this year alone having two teams ranked in the top five (Cooper No. 2, Holy Cross No. 4) and Ryle in the top 15. There’s next level talent scattered all across the region and Cooper’s agenda is to shut that team and player down.
It’s worked for three years now and the only thing missing is the big trophy in Lexington. They went to the state tournament semifinals in their first trip, then were upset in the first round in their second trip last season.
As winners of 26 of their last 27, having played one of the toughest schedules in the state and double-digit wins over ranked opponents, the chance could be now for a team that features four seniors in the starting lineup.
“We had this vision to best prepare our girls for the postseason and games like going to Sacred Heart and then hitting the road for Montgomery County the next day got us ready for these moments,” Holthaus said. “We learned a lot with our schedule throughout the season in order to be here.”
The senior led team has four starters that are going on to play at the next level, starting with tournament MVP Liz Freihofer headed to Eastern Kentucky University. Freihofer finished with 19 points and six rebounds in the championship bout, the all-around player you can put anywhere on the floor. Her unselfishness may have kept her off the radar, Freihofer not on the first team Division I NKAC All-Area team.
“When we saw those teams, we weren’t the happiest, but we just use that as motivation to keep going,” Freihofer said. “I’d much rather be 9th Region champion and MVP. So we talked about that as a team staying together, we’re more of a team than one person and that’s more important to us.”
Then there’s Logan Palmer, a University of Evansville signee who leads the team in scoring. Palmer gave it her all this tourney, looking like she was wrapped in bubble wrap after the game with both her shoulder and knee wrapped in ice.
Alexander (Liberty) and Deere (Gannon College) know their roles and what exactly they have to do to be successful. Alexander’s toughness was on full display after being blindsided on a screen in the second quarter, but still able to recover and help the team get a stop on the possession.
“I will say I was definitely yelling at my teammates for that one,” Alexander said. “That’s part of it. My teammates didn’t see the screen coming, so we adjusted a bit and something we need to do better at is calling those screens.”
Can’t forget about Haylee Noel either, the freshman starter who’s upside continues to show with each passing game. Despite being the point guard, she’s the leading rebounder on the team and pulled down nine rebounds on Saturday night.
Zene Thompson packs a scoring punch off the bench and when Deere went out early with foul trouble, Thompson provided seven points of offense in the first half. Addyson Brissey added a key floater to end the third when Ryle was gathering some momentum, but her basket made it a 16-point game going into the game’s final eight minutes.
It took Ryle over 10 minutes to get their first points of the game on a Quinn Eubank layup, by that time it was 13-2 Cooper with 5:52 left until halftime. Ryle would cut the deficit down to seven, but a Maleah Alexander 3-pointer followed by a Thompson layup made it 20-8 at halftime.
Cooper opened the second half with the first six points to make it 26-8, Ryle finally getting some momentum on their side after back-to-back Jaelyn Jones triples to make it 33-18. It didn’t last long as Freihofer answered with a three in the corner followed by Brissey’s floater to make it 38-22 headed to the fourth.
After Sarah Baker’s two free throws with 4:18 to play to make it 44-26, Ryle was held scoreless the rest of the way.
“With this group we’re not going to give you an inch,” Holthaus said. “If you get loose with the ball, we’re going to get a turnover. The 50-50 balls are ours.”
The Raiders finish on the wrong end of the regional championship for the third straight season. It also puts an end to the decorated high school careers of Quinn Eubank and Sarah Baker. Both have been with the program since the seventh grade, getting to see what it took to win a state championship while with the team in seventh grade and again made it to Rupp Arena as eighth graders. They played in five region championships in their six years there, Eubank going to continue her career at Belmont next year, Baker headed to Youngstown State.
Eubank finished with 10 points and nine rebounds, Baker with 10 points, three rebounds and three assists. Jones was the only other scorer for the Raiders with six points.
Both finish with over 1,000 career points and depart with four other seniors in Kassidy Peters, Gracie Carrigan, Rosemary Miller and Kimberly Singel.
Cooper heads to Rupp Arena on Thursday, facing 12th Region champion Danville Christian Academy at 8:30 p.m.
The win for Holthaus was his 100th with the program in just his fourth season with the team.
“Pretty special. The first year was the COVID year so we played 22 games that year. Just the ride they’ve taken us on over the last three years. It’s a testament to everyone in the program,” Holthaus said. “From the coaching staff and what they do for us, players, managers, all the people play a huge role and make my job a little bit easier.”
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
JAGUARS 51, RAIDERS 26
COOPER — 8-12-18-13 — 51
RYLE — 0-8-14-4 — 26
Scoring
Cooper (51) — Freihofer 19, Noel 7, Thompson 7, Alexander 6, Palmer 6, Deere 4, Brissey 2
Ryle (26) — Eubank 10, Baker 10, Jones 6
Game Stats
Field Goals: Cooper 21/43, Ryle 11/36
3-Pointers: Cooper 6/11, Ryle 2/10
Free Throws: Cooper 3/6, Ryle 2/4
Rebounds: Cooper 29, Ryle 20
Assists: Cooper 9, Ryle 7
Turnovers: Cooper 9, Ryle 17
Steals: Cooper 12, Ryle 5
Blocks: Cooper 1, Ryle 1
Fouls: Cooper 7, Ryle 12
Records: Cooper 29-4, Ryle 21-12