Guards Kay Freihofer of Cooper, right, and Trinity Rowe of Pikeville battled in Thursday's game. (Les Nicholson Photo)
Turns out Southwestern coach Junior Modlen knew what he was talking about. After his team beat McCracken County Wednesday night, he warned media members not to overlook 9th Region Cooper in part because of the strong schedule Cooper had played.
Cooper beat Pikeville 57-37 in the state tournament Thursday thanks to a suffocating defense and 22 points from sophomore Logan Luebbers Palmer, who averages only 10 points per game.
“We have hung our hat on our defense. We took some of their girls out of their spots. Our physicality and toughness prevailed in the second half,” Cooper coach Justin Holthaus said.
It didn’t hurt that Cooper (23-9) also had a large turnout of fans — the school brought five pep buses.
“Our girls fed off that energy,” Holthaus said. “This is very special not only for our program but the entire school.”
Holthaus prepared his team with a schedule that included two losses to regional rival Ryle along with losses to Montgomery County, Mercy, Anderson County, Conner, Notre Dame and Mount Notre Dame (Cincinnati). However, Cooper avenged the losses to Mercy and Anderson in the regular season and then beat Ryle in the district and a week later in the regional.
“We beefed up our schedule and tried to make it really tough,” the Cooper coach said. “Our schedule and strength of that schedule playing through that long a season added depth to our roster.”
Cooper, which will take an 11-game win streak into today’s game with Bowling Green, also got Kay Freihofer back from injuries.
“She is tough as nails. She will never tell you she is hurting or something is affecting her. She comes back and we got on another level. She has a calming presence and our girls rallied around her.”
Freihofer’s defense on Pikeville sophomore point guard was also a factor as Rowe finished with seven points, four rebounds, three assists and seven turnovers. She was 3-for-6 from the field.
“I wasn’t as aggressive offensively,” Rowe said. “Their defense was really good but I let them slow me down. We could not get in an offensive flow.”
Rowe’s teammate, Kylie Hall, also pointed out that Rowe’s defense impacted Freilhofer, who had just three points on 1-for-7 shooting.
“Trinity held her to three and that was big,” Hall said.
