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Ryle rolls to surprising 52-28 win over Cooper in showdown between highly ranked teams


By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter

The Ryle girls basketball team extended its long winning streak against local opponents with a surprisingly easy 52-28 victory at Cooper on Monday night.

The game was expected to be much closer since Ryle was ranked No. 5 and Cooper was tied for No. 6 in this week’s Associated Press statewide media poll. But the Raiders rolled to their 26th consecutive win against Northern Kentucky teams over the last two seasons.

Ryle senior guard Brie Crittendon

Ryle, the three-time defending 9th Region champion, clinched the top seed in the 33rd District playoffs with its seventh straight victory and improved to 14-2 on the season. Cooper dropped to 13-2 and had an eight-game win streak snapped.

After a low-scoring first quarter ended in a 6-6 tie, Ryle went on a 12-2 run to open up an 18-8 lead on a second-chance basket by Abby Holtman with 5:18 left in the second quarter.

The Jaguars pulled to within 20-14, but they came up empty on their next four possessions and the Raiders ran off seven straight points to build a 27-14 halftime lead.

In the second quarter, Ryle was 9-of-16 from the field with three 3-point goals and Cooper was 3-of-9 without any treys on its home court.

Any hope of the Jaguars making a comeback was dashed in the third quarter when they made just one 3-point field goal on 13 possessions. That enabled Ryle to extend its lead to 40-17.

Cooper scored 11 points in the fourth quarter, but the Jaguars finished the game with less than 30 total points for the first time since a 62-21 loss to Notre Dame on Jan. 19, 2013.

Ryle’s leading scorers were freshman forward Quinn Eubank with 15 points and senior guard Brie Crittendon with 14. Cooper’s top scorer was freshman guard Liz Freihofer with nine points. Sophomore forward Whitney Lind was limited to six points, 11 below her season average.

Ryle’s next game will be against Anderson County, the No. 1 team in the AP state poll, at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Ryle. Last week, Anderson County defeated No. 8 Sacred Heart and No. 9 Bardstown to raise its perfect record to 17-0.

COOPER   6    8    3  11 – 28
RYLE         6  21  13  12 – 52

COOPER (12-3): Lind 3 0 6, Palmer 1 0 2, K. Freihofer 2 2 7, L. Freihofer 3 2 9, Scott 1 0 2, Braun 1 0 2. Totals: 11 4 28.

RYLE (14-2): Holtman 2 1 5, Crittendon 5 2 14, Johnson 2 2 6, Baker 3 2 8, Eubank 7 0 15, Nguyen 1 0 3, Snider 0 1 1. Totals: 20 8 52.

3-point goals: C – K. Freihofer, L. Friehofer. R – Ctirrendon 2, Eubank, Nguyen.


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