Two similar teams from the same school district and same city had one big difference as they convened in BB&T Arena to play for the KHSAA Ninth Region girls basketball championship Friday night.
One of those teams, Ryle, has a lot of experience on the biggest stages of high school basketball. The core of this year’s Raiders squad had played in the 2020 Sweet 16 at Rupp Arena and had been part of the roster during the 2019 state championship run.
The other team, Cooper, had never won a regional title and had no one on the roster from its only previous experience in the Ninth Region final in 2017.
But the Jaguars had a head coach with state tournament experience, and his players made the plays when they mattered most as Cooper defeated Ryle for the regional championship.
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Cooper (23-9) defeated Ryle (21-10) 53-45 Friday night. The Jaguars will play at Rupp Arena at 1:30 p.m. Thursday, March 10, in the first round of the Sweet 16 against the 15th Region champion, who will be determined Saturday evening.
“At the start of the year, we had a lot of goals,” junior Kay Freihofer said. “We worked towards it, and I knew we could do this. Our team is special.”
Cooper split the four-game season series with its nearby rivals after winning the 33rd District championship last week and losing both regular-season meetings with the Raiders.
The Jaguars did it by holding off a fierce comeback by the Raiders, who trailed by nine points early in the fourth quarter and by seven with under four minutes to go in the game.
Ryle employed full-court pressure and was able to force some late turnovers, but the Jaguars were able to secure the ball well enough to keep the Raiders from making a big run against them.
With a minute to play and Cooper leading 46-43, Ryle’s Quinn Eubank missed a 3-pointer, and Austin Johnson missed a putback. Sophomore Liz Freihofer rebounded for Cooper, and the Jaguars made six straight free throws to put the game away.
“When they brought the pressure, we turned it over a little bit, but I had full faith in my team,” Kay Freihofer said. “We did an awesome job communicating and staying under control.”
Head coach Justin Holthaus, in his second year at the helm, was an assistant coach for the Cooper boys team that played in the 2017 state final. He brought the same defensive mindset and confidence to the girls program in this journey.
“Being on the boys' side in ‘17, I felt more prepared for the situation coming into this,” Holthaus said. “I wanted to make sure our girls were ready for these situations, not making these situations too big and just playing through it. Ryle’s been on this court. They had the experience but we always feel like no matter who we’re playing, if we do what we’re supposed to do, we can win every game.”
Kay Freihofer was named most valuable player of the tournament after posting 15 points in the final. She had 12 of those points in the first half.
Freihofer, who runs the point, had missed 15 games this season with a broken hand. Cooper went 8-7 in those games, including one of the losses to Ryle. The Jaguars are now 15-2 with her.
“I could tell by the look in her eyes, we would not be denied this championship,” Holthaus said. “When Kay’s on the court, she just has that calming presence. We struggled to figure out our identity and our leadership without her. When she came back, it was game on and everybody felt back to normal.”
Freihofer had the primary defensive assignment on Ryle junior Abby Holtman, who had scored 27 and 25 points in the previous two Raider wins in the tourney.
Holtman scored four points in the final, all on free throws, and was 0-for-4 from 3-point range as the Raiders, who average five 3-point makes a game, had zero tonight.
“She’s an awesome player, and we paid a lot of attention to keeping her away from the threes,” Freihofer said.
Ryle led 17-14 after one quarter but the Jaguars won the second period, 15-4. A 3-pointer by Logan Palmer gave Cooper the lead for good at 20-17. A 3-pointer by Kay Freihofer put Cooper up six at 25-19.
A basket by junior Whitney Lind and two free throws by Freihofer put Cooper up eight at halftime, 29-21.
“We kept them off the offensive glass,” Liz Freihofer said. “In the first quarter, they got all their points off the offensive glass, so we boxed out and secured those rebounds.”
Cooper has now won straight, allowing 41 points per game in that stretch.
“We’ve done a really good job the past four or five games of getting out on their guards and pressuring,” Holthaus said. “We know there are a lot of good shooters in the region. We talk about closing hard with both hands up high. We have a lot of good length and I feel comfortable with our girls contesting shots at the rim. Being under Coach Sullivan for 12 years, you learn how to guard. Our girls have bought into it and they believe in it.”
Liz Freihofer, Kay's sophomore sister, scored seven of Cooper’s nine points in the third quarter and led the Jaguars with 19 overall, plus 10 rebounds.
Baskets by her and Whitney Lind gave Cooper a 10-point lead at 33-23. Baskets by Eubank and Johnson pulled Ryle within six at 33-27. Then, Liz Freihofer hit a 3-pointer and scored a layup on a putback to put Cooper up 11 at 38-27.
Johnson hit two free throws late in the period to put her over the 1,000-point mark for her career. Johnson led Ryle with 15 points and seven rebounds and scored all of Ryle’s first five points to put the Raiders up 5-0 early.
All-tournament team: Notre Dame – Macie Feldman; Ludlow – Jenna Lillard; Highlands – Marissa Green; Holy Cross – Miyah Wimzie; Newport Central Catholic – Rylee Turner, Caroline Eaglin; Dixie Heights – Madelyn Lawson, Sammy Berman; Ryle – Abby Holtman, Austin Johnson; Cooper – Logan Palmer, Liz Freihofer, Kay Freihofer (MVP).
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