Noel’s 43 carries Cooper to Battle of Union victory

Haylee Noel’s final two points may have been her easiest of the night.

Sitting at the free throw line with 10 seconds to play, Noel sank two free throws to secure Cooper’s 69-63 victory over Ryle on Thursday night in the 33rd District Battle of Union and LINK nky’s Game of the Week presented by Skyline Chili and Mr. Kentucky.

The other 41 came in a variety of ways as the junior scored a career-high 43 in the Jaguars victory, putting them in line for the No. 1 seed for the district tournament in late February. Noel hit six 3-pointers and all seven of her free throw attempts.

“She’s a beast,” Jaguars coach Christian Prohaska said. “She’s the best I’ve been around. She competes every possession. You can have players at the high school, college, even professional level take plays off, she never takes a play off. She’ll do whatever it takes to win.”

There weren’t many fast break layups or uncontested shots, Noel had to earn every bit of the 43 on a special night for one of, if not the best player in the state.

“Just knowing it’s a big game,” Noel said of her performance. “Just coming in with the mindset of playing together, playing with confidence and just getting a win. I felt it early with the energy and atmosphere in here.”

The victory didn’t come easy, either. Cooper (13-3) erased a seven-point third quarter deficit and then opened the fourth on a 9-0 run to eventually pull away from Ryle. It’s their 11th straight win in the series that was previously dominated by Ryle the first 13 years the two faced one another. Ryle had won 22 of the first 25 meetings between the two before Cooper’s current run of dominance.

Cooper’s hiring of Christian Prohaska has added even more flair to the rivalry.

PHOTOS: Slideshow provided by Charles Bolton

“Katie (Haitz) and I go way back. We were teammates at Boone County under Coach Fookes,” Prohaska said. “My husband has helped here at Ryle. I know this games means a lot to the girls and that means it means a lot to me. It was intense as expected.”

Noel ended the first with six points as Ryle took a 17-14 lead after a Jaelyn Jones triple beat the horn. Then Noel scored 15 of Cooper’s 17 points in the second, but it was Ryle taking a 33-31 lead at the break on Ava Warner’s layup in the closing seconds.

The Raiders (9-7) came out with some hunger out of the half, a 7-0 run giving them a 40-33 edge just two minutes into the third.

“Really proud of the way my girls played tonight,” Raiders coach Katie Haitz said. “Played hard the whole time, adjusted to what we needed to. We just have to understand certain situations and those are the kind of conversations we’re having and will continue to have.”

After Noel responded with five straight, her teammates started to chip in and chip away at the Ryle advantage. First it was Brinkli Rankin knocking down 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions to make it 44-all, Addyson Brissey and Alivia Scott trading buckets with Gianna Cooper and two Jaelyn Jones free throws to make it 48-all after three quarters of play.

Then the fourth showed where the two teams are at in mid-January. Cooper opened with a 9-0 spurt as they forced numerous turnovers against a Ryle team still figuring out ways of how to close out close games. Of Ryle’s seven losses, six of them have come by 10 points or less, four by six points or less.

Jayden McClain, who controlled the paint for the majority, scored back-to-back buckets for Ryle’s first points of the fourth over four minutes into it. That got Ryle within 57-52, but they were unable to inch any closer, as costly turnovers racked up in the loss down the stretch.

“That’s part of it. We only won nine games last year, so we’re pushing them with higher competition and now it’s just ending games,” Haitz said. “We’re right there, just need to take that next step and understand what that looks like.”

Meanwhile, Cooper picked up their seventh straight win. They have a week off before hosting Highlands on Thursday. After Noel’s 43, Rankin had nine, Brissey and Alivia Scott with seven apiece. Noel’s previous career-high was 34 against Sacred Heart in the state tournament last season.

“We had our backs against the wall and this team responded,” Prohaska said. “We really battled tonight. That’s who we are. We’re defensive first and then the other stuff comes. We were able to create some pressure and turn things around in the second half.”

Ryle gets on the bus and heads about six hours southeast to play down in Georgia for the extended weekend. They play against South Forsyth (Georgia) on Saturday and Whitefield Academy (Georgia) on Monday before returning home.

The Raiders were led by Jones’ 22, McClain following with 16 and Gianna Cooper with 12.

JAGUARS 69, RAIDERS 63

COOPER — 14-17-17-21 — 69

RYLE — 17-16-15-15 — 63

Scoring

Cooper (69) — Noel 43, Rankin 9, Brissey 7, Scott 6, Hooper 3, Benson 1

Ryle (63) — Jones 22, McClain 16, Cooper 12, Hampton 7, Dowell 4, Warner 2

Game Stats