EDGEWOOD - Two months after dropping a game to Cooper, the Dixie Heights Colonels girls basketball squad got sweet revenge with a 64-55 victory in the Ninth Region tournament to advance to the semifinals Friday.
The loss to Cooper back on Jan. 22 was a 40-35 somewhat boring affair. Thursday night's pace was considerably quicker. When the buzzer sounded, the Colonels' win streak was at 20.
"Our defense is quite a bit different now than it was in January," Dixie Heights coach Joel Stecyzinski said. "It was some really ugly basketball. We were able to control the ball a little bit better tonight. We just hit more shots than we're used to hitting tonight."
Both schools had student sections and it was a lively crowd at Dixie Heights with more fans allowed to attend.
Senior and six-year varsity player Sydney Lockard led Dixie Heights with 16 points, sophomore Samantha Berman came off the bench for 15 and junior Madelyn Lawson had 13.
"I've been saying all year long we pretty much have six starters," Stecyzinski said of the balanced attack that also included 11 points from Reece Smith and nine from Laci Reinhart, another sixth-year varsity player.
Added Lockard, "We knew last time we played them it was a very good game from us. We knew we had to come out and play our game and not let them affect us. We had a lot of energy. We knew we were going to get revenge."
With 2:30 minutes to go, Dixie's Lawson briefly left the floor with an apparent knee injury, but a quick trip to the athletic trainer's office had her back on the floor for the final minutes.
"It kind of freaked me out a little bit, because I'm a big part in the middle," Lawson said. "My knee is good. I'm excited to come back because I didn't get to finish what I started last year."
Cooper is now 17-5. They were coming off a district championship defeat to Ryle. Sophomore Whitney Lind led the Jaguars with 18 points with freshman Logan Luebbers Palmer scoring 17.
Dixie Heights now goes to 25-2 as they seek their first regional girls title since 1992.
Each team buried a trio of treys in the opening frame that ended knotted at 17. Before the end of the first half, the scoring slowed some, but junior forward Madelyn Lawson was fouled, sinking a pair of free throws with 30 seconds remaining for the 30-28 halftime advantage.
The Jaguars would continue to hang, tying the score just under the three-minute mark of the third frame, but a Colonels' run ended with a Samantha Berman score to put Dixie up by seven, their largest lead to that point.
They continued their command in the final quarter and with fouls and converted free throws advanced the lead to a dozen before Cooper's Kay Friehofer canned a 3-pointer just before the sounding of the buzzer.
Dixie Heights plays Highlands Saturday at 6 p.m. at Holmes High School in Covington in a regional semifinal. Dixie Heights defeated the Bluebirds 36-33 back on Jan. 29 in Fort Thomas.
COOPER 17 11 11 16 55
DIXIE HEIGHTS 17 13 14 20 64
C -Berman 15 Reinhart 9 Smith 11 Lockard 16 Lawson 13
DH - Lind 18 Palmer 17 Scott 2 K. Friehofer 10 L. Friehofer 8
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