LEXINGTON — They did everything they possibly could, to get back in it.
Pressured the ball. Trapped and switched, defensively. Repeatedly took it to the basket.
And, ultimately, the Bowling Green High School girls basketball team couldn’t overcame a disastrous start, as Cooper High School claimed a hard-fought, 55-47 victory over the Lady Purples in the KHSAA Sweet Sixteen quarterfinals on Friday evening at Rupp Arena.
Cooper, established in 2008 and located about 18 miles southwest of Cincinnati in Union, Kentucky, advanced to the second of two semifinals on Saturday and will need two victories in about eight hours to claim its first state championship.
Bowling Green, a Sweet Sixteen quarterfinalist for the second consecutive season, finishes its season 29-8 under fifth-year head coach Calvin Head.
The Lady Purples said good-bye to seven seniors, including 6-foot-0 center LynKaylah James, but they should be well equipped to make another run at success during the 2022-23 season.
“It was a war out there … Cooper’s a very good basketball team,” Head said during the postgame press conference. “We knew they’d be very discplined in their offense. We got off to a very slow start, and just couldn’t come out of it.
“We couldn’t get clean stops.”
Cooper scored the game’s first 12 points, before Meadow Tisdale ended the Lady Purples’ drought with a field goal near the basket at the 2:20 mark of the first quarter. Bowling Green stayed within striking distance for most of the rest of the game, but Cooper showed enough moxie to stay in front and complete the task at hand.
“If you’re gonna lose at Rupp Arena, in the Sweet Sixteen, this is the way it should happen,” Head said. “This team kept clawing, kept fighting, kept scratching, anything to get back in the game.
“Level of engagement, focus, effort, all of those things, we were at our best.”
Cooper extended its winning streak to 12 games while improving to 24-9 on the season. The Lady Jaguars will face defending KHSAA state champion Sacred Heart in the second semifinal game on Saturday afternoon, needing another victory Saturday night to claim a state championship.
Sacred Heart rolled to a 59-40 victory over George Rogers Clark in the final quarterfinal game of the night.
“When you play with a lead,” Cooper guard Whitney Lind said, “you can play a little more relaxed, a little more confident. It kind of dictates what you do, offensively.”
Bowling Green can relate.
In an uneven, physical game, the Lady Jaguars were determined to keep BGHS forward Meadow Tisdale from beating them on the low block. LynKaylah James, the Lady Purples’ other catalyst near the basket, picked up her fourth foul in the third quarter and was limited to 24 minutes on the floor.
James, playing in the final game of her splendid BGHS career, willed the Lady Purples back into the game in the final 90 seconds.
James scored on a drive to the basket with 1:13 left, cutting the BGHS deficit to 50-47. But Cooper hit the free throws the Lady Purples couldn’t in the final minute, and that brought the curtain down on the Bowling Green season.
But what a season it was.
Bowling Green has won the last three KHSAA 4th Region championships, and the Lady Purples were dominant in both district and regional play before arriving in Lexington on Tuesday. They used Meadow Tisdale’s 18 points and five rebounds, as well as LynKaylah James’ 15 points and four rebounds, to turn back Letcher County Central on Thursday, a 58-45 victory over the small Kentucky school near the Virginia state line.
Cooper coach Justin Holthaus seemed determined to have his squad keep Tisdale way from the basket, playing physical defense and seemingly getting to every loose ball in the first half. Tisdale, the 4th Region Player of the Year, fouled out with 1:44 left in the game, finishing with seven points, six rebounds and two blocked shots.
“We got off to a roll at the beginning of the game,” Holthaus said. “We knew it was going to be a task, for the full 32 minutes. Bowling Green is a team with great length, and quickness. They’re strong, and physical … This is a special group we have here. They work hard, they’re humble, they’re great kids.”
Sophomore guard Liz Freihofer led the Lady Jaguars with 20 points, hitting all six of her field-goal attempts while grabbing four rebounds. Lind scored 19 points and had a team-high seven rebounds, and Kay Freihofer, Liz’s elder sister and a CHS junior, had 11 points and five rebounds.
Tanaya Bailey, the Lady Purples’ junior guard, returned from an ankle injury late in the first half and turned in a valiant effort in defeat. Bailey had 17 points in just 19 minutes on the floor, but she also had six turnovers as Bowling Green struggled to solve the Cooper defense.
Calvin Head said Bailey had her injured left ankle re-taped in the locker room at halftime, adding that she has “the heart of a champion.”
“I was hurt, but I didn’t want to let my team down,” an emotional Bailey said during the postgame press conference.
Head was effusive in the praise of his senior class, bringing veteran guard Emma Huskey to the podium afterward. Besides Huskey, the Purples will say good-bye to seniors LynKaylah James, Ava Bennett, Payton Briley, Tuniya Fugate, London Lightning and Paris Wardlow.
“Obviously, this isn’t the outcome we wanted,” Huskey said. “I thought we pushed each other, played hard, all season long. I thought we gave it our best shot.”
