By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
With four starters returning from last year’s state semifinal team, Cooper was voted the No. 1 girls basketball team in Northern Kentucky in a preseason poll of local coaches conducted by the NKyTribune.
The Jaguars, who made their state tournament debut last March after winning their first 9th Region championship, received 13 of the 14 first-place votes and 139 total points in the coaches poll.
Whitney Lind, right, was the leading scorer and rebounder on Cooper’s state semifinal team last season. (Photo by Bob Jackson)
Ryle received the other first-place vote and was voted No. 2 with 123 points. The third-place team was Conner with 94 points. The top three teams are all members of the 33rd District and play each other twice during the regular season.
Last year, Ryle won both of its regular season games against Cooper, but the Jaguars defeated the Raiders in the district and region finals.
One of Cooper’s returning starters is 6-foot-2 senior forward Whitney Lind, who had team-high averages off 16.7 points and 6.4 rebounds last season. She was named second-team all-state in a statewide poll of coaches and made a commitment with Lehigh University in Pennsylvania last summer.
The Jaguars’ other returning starters are senior Kay Freihofer and juniors Logan Palmer and Liz Freihofer. Both of the Freihofer sisters were double figure scorers in the region championship game with Kay being named most valuable player by head coach Justin Holthaus and his staff.
The other teams ranked in the top 10 by local coaches in the preseason poll are 4-Holy Cross, 5-Dixie Heights, 6-Notre Dame, 7-Highlands, 8-St. Henry, 9-Simon Kenton, 10-Walton-Verona.
Holy Cross won the 9th Region All “A” Classic last season and made it to the semifinals of the small-school state tournament.
GIRLS BASKETBALL COACHES PRESEASON TOP 10
(First-place votes in parentheses)
1-Cooper (13) 139 voting points, 2-Ryle (1) 123, 3-Conner 94, 4-Holy Cross 93, 5-Dixie Heights 83, 6-Notre Dame 81, 7-Highlands 55, 8-St. Henry 30, 9-Simon Kenton 22, 10-Walton-Verona 17.
Others receiving votes: Brossart 10, Newport Central Catholic 9, Scott 5, Campbell County 4, Ludlow 2, Lloyd 2, Boone County 1.
Notre Dame senior volleyball player named first-team All-American
Notre Dame senior libero Kamden Schrand was among 50 high school players from across the nation named first-team All-American by the American Volleyball Coaches Association.
Schrand was one of three senior starters on Notre Dame’s state championship team this season. She finished with team-high totals of 572 defensive digs and 85 service aces in 118 sets for the 34-5 Pandas.
Kamden Schrand
A University of Louisville recruit, Schrand set a Notre Dame record for most career digs (1,249) during her three-year varsity career and finished second in service aces (194).
Sydney Nolan, the leading hitter on Notre Dame’s state championship team with 487 kills in 117 sets, was a second-team All-American selection by the AVCA. The 6-foot-3 outside hitter was named most valuable player on the state all-tournament team and will continue her career at the University of North Carolina.
Cooper libero Chloe Fortner was a third-team All-American selection. She was also among 539 senior players with a grade-point average of 3.8 or higher last school year who were named to the AVCA Best & Brightest Team.
The other local student-athletes on the Best & Brightest Team were Ava Thomas of Brossart, Rylee Hood and Maya Hunt of Holy Cross, Jada Kramer of Notre Dame and Josie Schroeder of St. Henry.
Thomas was a senior starter on the Brossart team that won its first 10th Region volleyball championship, but the Mustangs lost in the opening round of the state tournament.
Cooper grad sets pass reception record on college football team
Cooper graduate Dante Hendrix became the Indiana State football team’s all-time leader in pass reception yards last week when the red-shirt senior raised his career total to 2,408.
This season, Hendrix has caught 41 passes for 627 yards and three touchdowns for the 1-8 Sycamores. His 78.4 yards-per-game average ranks second among pass receivers in the current Missouri Valley Football Conference standings.
He had 90 reception yards or more in five of the team’s first six games. He caught five passes for a season-high 117 yards against Youngstown State and had two touchdown receptions against North Dakota State.
