Cooper girls basketball team completes successful season
UNION, Ky. — For years, girls鈥� basketball has been the emptiest banner on the wall at Cooper High School. We changed that. But we didn鈥檛 stop there. One year wasn鈥檛 good enough for us. We wanted to do it again. Day in and day out, we showed up to practice and performed to the best of our ability. But it was not just what we did on the court. We are a very tight-knit team, and we constantly spend time together off the court, which is what truly brings us together and has allowed us to make history.
Coming into this season was a little different from last season because last season, we had something to prove, but this season, everyone knew what we were capable of. We never got consumed in all that and continued to do our thing. We fought through the season with a great toughness, achieving a regular season program record of 24 wins. After that, we were ready for the post-season tournaments where any day could have been our last.
First, we had the district tournament. After our record season, we were the 1 seed in the district, giving us a first-round match-up with the 4 seed, Boone County High School. We had a great game, with 10 out of the 12 girls on our roster scoring, and we rolled on through to Ryle. The Raiders struggled, though. We battled through the entire 32 minutes with an intensity and energy like never before. Ultimately, we were the tougher team, becoming 33rd District Champions for the second year in a row.
We celebrated that trophy, but we were not done yet. The next stop was the 9th Region tournament. We were a 1 seed again, getting the first-round matchup with 2 seed Newport Central Catholic, which we rolled straight through to Notre Dame for the second round. The Pandas were a bit of a tougher opponent, but we rose to the challenge and earned our spot in the 9th Region championship game against none other than the Ryle Raiders, just like last year. We were more excited than ever for this game, and we wore our trademark sunglasses on the bus to Northern Kentucky University鈥檚 Truist Arena. The region championship was harder fought than the district championship. It was an all-out dogfight and came down to who was the tougher team. It was close for all 32 minutes and had everyone on the edge of their seats. But all the Lady Jags stepped up and filled their role, propelling us through the last 3 minutes and winning us the 9th Region Championship, again, for the second year in a row.
We celebrated with chicken wings and pretzel bites and started preparations for the Sweet Sixteen, where our historical season came to a devastating end in the first round. Even with this loss, our season has been amazing. We ended the season with a record of 29 wins and 4 losses, 3 of the wins being against Ryle. We were ranked number 2 in the state and became the first-ever Cooper women鈥檚 basketball team to win back-to-back district and region championships. I am so proud of this team and everything we have accomplished. From injuries to pandemics to losses and much more, we have rose to every challenge and overcome them with smiles on our faces. We have successfully left our legacy at Cooper High School and changed the basketball program forever.
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