They may not possess the most height, but the heart the Cooper girls basketball team presents in rebounding the basketball helps them separate from the competition.
They owned the battle of the boards in Sunday’s St. Elizabeth Healthcare 9th Region tournament quarterfinal with Holy Cross, taking the highly anticipated contest, 48-38.
Cooper outrebounded Holy Cross 35-25, paced by Haylee Noel’s 17 point, eight rebound performance while Addyson Brissey posted a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
“We don’t have a whole lot of size and I thought we matched up with Holy Cross with their size as well,” Cooper coach Justin Holthaus said. “We kind of talked about how this is going to be one of those games where all the little things are going to mount up and they’re going to play a huge role in this game. And I thought our kids did a really good job on the little things.”
Here’s some takeaways from Sunday’s second quarterfinal game:
How it went down
Holy Cross led 2-0, which was their only lead of the game. Cooper went on a 10-0 run from there and never looked back. They led 12-4 after one, 25-16 at half and 36-23 after three.
Holy Cross was able to get within seven on two different occasions at 38-31 and 43-36 in the fourth, but were unable to get any closer from there.
Heart over height
On top of the 35-25 rebounding edge, Cooper had 14 second chance points to Holy Cross’ four. In a 10-point game, there’s your difference.
“It was an all-around effort, continuing to crash the glass,” Holthaus said. “That was one of the big keys coming in tonight. We feel we have kids that can shoot the ball well, to be able to get second-chance opportunities really extends your postseason if you’re able to do that.”
Brissey’s big night
Brissey’s double-double came with four offensive rebounds. She’s a guard with not much size, but by the numbers, you wouldn’t know it.
“I just have that drive…I want to go get the ball,” Brissey said. “If I can get a putback or get better opportunities for my team, that’s what I’m going to do.”
Indians never really got going
Holy Cross scored the opening points of the game on an Alyssa Arlinghaus’ layup, then didn’t hit a field goal the rest of the first quarter.
They started to develop a little bit of a rhythm in the second as Aumani Nelson got on the attack with nine second quarter points to get within 22-16. They got some momentum again in the fourth quarter thanks to their pressure defense, but never could find an answer when they were down seven with less than four minutes to play.
“I think it was a corner three for Alyssa (Arlinghaus) and it was a good look to get down four,” Ted Arlinghaus said. “It didn’t go and that’s just how it happened today. Alyssa is a near 40% 3-point shooter and went 0-for-6 today. Just an off day.”
Holy Cross finished 38% from the field and 17% from the 3-point line.
“We had shots and we missed them,” Indians coach Ted Arlinghaus said. “Sometimes it doesn’t go in. Knew we needed to make shots and we just didn’t convert.”
Aumani Nelson led Holy Cross with 18 points, D’Myah Williams added 13. No one else added more than five and only four players scored.
Bits and pieces here and there
Outside of Haylee Noel’s 15.1 points per game, Cooper has five others averaging between 9.7 and 4.9 points per game.
Brissey provided 11 points, but Alivia Scott (eight), Brinkli Rankin and Lyric Hooper (six each) combined for 20 points, giving Cooper a big boost.
Rankin hit back-to-back threes in the second quarter to extend Cooper’s lead to 10 at 22-12. Hooper provided four early points during their 10-0 first quarter run and Scott scored six of her eight points in the fourth.
Cooper’s evolving
Flashback to Dec. 12, Holy Cross handed Cooper their first loss in region play in three years with a 66-54 victory. It snapped a 33-game winning streak for Cooper over 9th Region opponents as they look to become the first girls team in region history to win four straight titles.
Cooper struggled with the Holy Cross pressure in that one as they were still figuring things out from losing four seniors who are currently playing at the next level.
“With the schedule that we’ve had and mixing things up with a younger group at the beginning of the year, I wouldn’t say shell shocked, but they haven’t been in those situations,” Holthaus said. “But we’ve grown a lot. We’ve played a very tough schedule. We’ve really challenged ourselves and the kids are continuing to grow up and figure some things out.”
Indians have raised the bar
Hearing the celebration from down the hall in the Cooper locker room was tough for Holy Cross to hear in their locker room after the game, but it shows how far they’ve come.
A three-time region champ normally wouldn’t celebrate a first round region tournament win like that, but the build up and anticipation warranted it.
“It hurts when you hear them celebrate, but part of our message was they don’t celebrate against teams they know they’re going to win,” Arlinghaus said. “It stings to hear, but it’s really a compliment. We’ve had Sacred Heart and GRC reach out to us to schedule a game, they schedule a team that they know can compete and challenge them. This senior group has had 79 wins the last three years. They haven’t just raised the bar, they’ve kept the bar high and now we’re recognized not just as a regional program, but a state-wide program.”
Holy Cross has won 98 over the last four years which has included two All “A” state championships. It’s been quite the run for the senior class of Aumani Nelson, Aniyah Carter and Ella Lehmkuhl.
What’s next
Cooper will face Holy Cross in the 9th Region semifinals on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. They defeated the Colonels 61-39 back on Feb. 13.
“They’re tough, but I like the matchup that we have,” Holthaus said. “They’re guard heavy with a really good team that spaces the floor. We played them a couple weeks ago, so we’ll look a little bit at that matchup and take it from there.”
Holy Cross ends their season with a 25-8 record, their third straight season with 25 wins or more.
PHOTO SLIDESHOW: Cooper-Holy Cross 9th Region tournament quarterfinals (provided by Charles Bolton)
COOPER 48, HOLY CROSS 38
HOLY CROSS — 4-12-7-15 — 38
COOPER — 12-13-11-12 — 48
Scoring
Holy Cross (38) — Nelson 18, Williams 13, Carter 5, Arlinghaus 2
Cooper (48) — Noel 17, Brissey 11, Scott 8, Hooper 6, Rankin 6
Game Stats
Field Goals: Holy Cross 15/39, Cooper 17/47
3-Pointers: Holy Cross 3/17, Cooper 4/14
Free Throws: Holy Cross 5/9, Cooper 10/17
Rebounds: Holy Cross 25, Cooper 35
Assists: Holy Cross 7, Cooper 11
Steals: Holy Cross 10, Cooper 9
Blocks: Holy Cross 3, Cooper 1
Turnovers: Holy Cross 18, Cooper 15
Fouls: Holy Cross 17, Cooper 14
Records: Holy Cross 25-8, Cooper 23-5
