Players on the Conner High School girls basketball team don’t have to go far to get advice on how to win a regional championship.
They will need all that guidance as the Cougars enter the postseason as the hottest team in the Ninth Region, but their first opponent will be a tough challenge to their goal of advancing in the tournament.
Conner enters next week’s 33rd District Tournament with a 22-3 record and winner of 17 straight games. But the Cougars will face rival Cooper and its 17-9 record in the semifinal round Tuesday at Ryle.
Ryle, 18-8 overall, is the top seed after winning two close games over Cooper this season. Conner lost to both Ryle and Cooper by more than 20 points in early December, but turned around to beat Cooper by 14 on Jan. 7 and by seven at Ryle on Jan. 22.
Both teams have received votes in the Associated Press state poll during the season, and the loser will be one of the best teams in the state to not advance to its regional tournament.
“I think we have a good chance,” Conner head coach Michelle Gambrel said. “I don’t know what’s going to happen when they throw the ball up. It stinks that us, Cooper and Ryle are all in the same district, and one good team isn’t going to make it to region, but we’re going to give it our best.”
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Conner has not lost since Dec. 18, when the Cougars fell by 14 points to Shelby Valley, which is a contender for the 15th Region title.
Conner beat Lakota West, one of Cincinnati’s top teams, on Dec. 30, and in the past two weeks has beaten reigning Ninth Region champion Dixie Heights (22-6) by seven, as well as Holy Cross (18-12), another top team in the region.
“I love our team. We are playing well,” Gambrel said. “Our team chemistry is so good right now. You can’t tell the difference between practice and games. They work that hard, and it shows in the game.”
Gambrel is in her third season as head coach for the Cougars after being an assistant to former coach Aaron Stamm, who is now at Ludlow.
If Conner gets past Cooper, the Cougars will play in the Ninth Region Tournament, hoping for their fifth regional championship all-time and first since 2008.
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Gambrel, born Michelle Coppage, and one of her assistants, Christi Vest, played on the 1990 and 1991 teams that won the region and advanced to the Sweet 16, reaching the quarterfinals in 1991.
Vest, born Christi Osborne, became Conner’s all-time leading scorer during that time. She played for Virginia Tech and was inducted into the Greater Cincinnati Basketball Hall of Fame.
Their daughters, Taylor Gambrel and Bethany Vest, played together for successful Conner teams and graduated in 2016. Taylor Gambrel keeps the scorebook for the varsity team.
Junior varsity head coach Allison Butler (born Allison Long) was the leading scorer for Conner’s last regional championship team in 2008. Assistants Libby Moses and Rhonda Bergman also have long-running ties to Conner basketball.
“We are all Conner grads,” Gambrel said. “It means a lot to us. The uniform means a lot to a lot of people. I have parents who I coached here who are in the stands with our kids watching them play. Conner means a lot to people. It means a lot to me, and we take a lot of pride in what’s on our jersey.”
This year’s Cougars have succeeded with a young roster.
Senior Lauren Hawthorne, the only senior on the roster, has emerged this season by averaging 14.3 points and 6.5 rebounds for the season. She has made 44 3-pointers this year.
Sophomore Anna Hamilton runs the show at guard, averaging 17.2 points per game and hitting 64 3-pointers. Her brother Landen is the leading scorer (17.3 ppg.) for the boys team, which has a 17-9 record.
“We all play as a team,” Hamilton said. “When one of us is scoring, the other person is creating chances for her to score. We’re all working together really well. My teammates will get it to me when I’m open. I can create for myself and create for my teammates.”
Junior Juliet Strange averages 11 points per game and junior Kelsee Simpson five. Those four provide the bulk of the scoring. Emily McGraw has returned to the lineup after missing 14 games, and can be a big asset in the postseason, Gambrel said.
“We’re really good if those four can be on the floor,” Gambrel said. “We’re just a good all-around team. They don’t all want to score. Some of them just want to be good defensively. We just mesh really well together.”
Culture has been a major factor at Conner. Gambrel tries to keep things upbeat, and the players are more likely to smile at each other after a mistake than get mad at each other.
“We have a lot of fun out there,” Hamilton said. “Coach puts a lot of fun into it. We all share the ball, we all work as a team.”
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