All season long, the Cooper girls basketball team stresses a full team effort.
It was no different on Friday night in the KHSAA girls Mingua Beef Jerky Sweet 16 quarterfinals against Henderson County. All seven players that entered the game contributed in a variety of ways as they pulled away for a 47-37 victory.
“We talk about as a team everyday and we have this hashtag ‘as one’.” Jaguars coach Justin Holthaus said. “We’re doing it all for the team and we had some kids step up in a lot of moments today.”
It was another solid defensive performance for Cooper, as they once again had a sizeable turnover advantage, forcing 16 while just committing eight and holding a 15-6 edge in points off turnovers.
Haylee Noel was the leading scorer with 11 points, her efficient night including hitting 4-of-5 shots from the field, pulling down six rebounds, dishing out three assists with two blocked shots and a steal.
“At practice, both groups push each other to be better each day to get where we are right now,” Noel said.
Distributing the basketball was the name of the game for Cooper. They had 15 assists on 19 made field goals and finished shooting 46% from the field.
Five others finished between six and eight points, Zene Thompson coming off the bench with eight points and dishing out five assists while Logan Palmer and Liz Freihofer had seven points apiece, Freihofer’s floor game consisting of six rebounds, five assists and five of the team’s seven steals. Bella Deere and Addyson Brissey added six points apiece. Maleah Alexander put up two points as she kickstarted the scoring in the second half and provided her usual hard-nosed defense.
Thompson also credits what she has to go up against in practice on a daily basis for her output. 
“I mostly just challenge the white team, basically the varsity starters and I challenge them every single day and it really challenges me because they’re super good,” Thompson said.
Cooper shrugged off another slow start and trailed 10-5 after the first. They were hesitant at first as they went 2-of-9 from the field with three turnovers.
“Kudos to Henderson County and their coaching staff and giving us a different look,” Holthaus said. “We had to adjust and credit to our kids and just buying into the gameplan and the adjustments on the fly.”
They started to get going in the second, a 9-0 run giving them a 16-13 late in the quarter and went into the break with an 18-15 advantage. Henderson County was held to five points in the quarter and turned the ball over 10 times. 
“It starts with their length,” Colonels coach Stephen Haile said. “If you’re driving to the basket, every shot you have to adjust the way that you’re shooting it. They also try to pressure you and they got some quick guards too and they push you out to about half court. We’re trying to run our offense out by about the UK sign near half court and that’s tough to do.”
The Jaguars settled in halfway through the third, a 9-2 run giving them a 33-24 advantage before going into the fourth with a 33-27 lead.
They earned their largest lead of the night at 10 on two Noel free throws with 6:04 to play, Henderson County unable to get any closer than six from there.
Atylia Green helped keep the Colonels in it all evening, finishing with 21 points and four assists. Adalyn Gish added eight as they’ll return their entire roster next season, including leading scorer Brooklyn Gibson, who missed the last three games of the season due to an injury suffered in the region tournament semifinals.
Cooper’s next task is a tall one as they make their second Final Four in the last three seasons. It’s a matchup of the top two teams in the state as they’ll face No. 1 Sacred Heart on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. Cooper entered the postseason ranked No. 2.
“We came here to make it to the final day of the high school basketball season and we’re just looking to get two more wins,” Freihofer said. “We’ve seen Sacred Heart twice this season, so I think we’re prepared and ready for them. It’s just going to come down to who the tougher team really is.”
The winner gets the McCracken County-Butler winner in the state championship on Saturday night at 7 p.m. 
JAGUARS 47, COLONELS 37
HENDERSON CO. — 10-5-12-10 — 37
COOPER — 5-13-15-14 — 47
Scoring
Henderson (37) — Green 21, Gish 8, Kemp 4, Rideout 4
Cooper (47) — Noel 11, Thompson 8, Palmer 7, Freihofer 7, Deere 6, Brissey 6, Alexander 2
Game Stats
Field Goals: Henderson 15/33, Cooper 19/41
3-Pointers: Henderson 2/9, Cooper 2/10
Free Throws: Henderson 5/7, Cooper 7/7
Rebounds: Henderson 20, Cooper 21
Assists: Henderson 7, Cooper 15
Turnovers: Henderson 16, Cooper 8
Steals: Henderson 3, Cooper 7
Blocks: Henderson 1, Cooper 3
Fouls: Henderson 10, Cooper 8
Records: Henderson County 26-8, Cooper 31-4
