Abilene Cooper girls blast Lubbock High, keep playoffs hopes alive

With their backs against the wall and facing a must-win game, the Cooper girls basketball team played its best game of the season – perhaps its best game in more than a decade.

Kyla Speights scored a game-high 23 points, and Ashlynn French added 19 as the Lady Cougars blasted Lubbock High 67-48 in a District 4-5A game at Cougar Gym.

The victory pulled Cooper (20-13 overall, 4-7 district) within a game of Lubbock High (21-13, 5-6) for the final playoff spot.

The Lady Westerners would have clinched that last playoff spot with a win. Now, they’ll likely need help or face a play-in game against Cooper.

The Lady Coogs must beat third-place Lubbock Coronado on Tuesday in Lubbock and get No. 1-ranked Lubbock Monterey to take care of the Lady Westerners that same night to force a play-in game later in the week. The fourth seed likely will play No. 8 Amarillo High in the first round.

Lubbock High hasn’t made the playoffs since 2018, while Cooper hasn’t been to the postseason since 2020.

Coronado (23-11, 7-4), which beat Wylie 50-29 on Saturday, already has nailed down the third seed behind Monterey (26-3, 10-1) and No. 7 Lubbock-Cooper (24-6, 10-1).

Early knockout blow

Just two days after a 96-28 loss at Monterey, Cooper opened the game against Lubbock High like a state-ranked team.

The Lady Coogs reeled off a 15-0 run to overcome a 5-3 deficit. They took a 20-7 lead into the second quarter and poured it on from there – building a 20-point lead (34-14) with 3:56 remaining in the first half.

Cooper kept the foot on the gas and roared to a 45-24 halftime lead.

“It was a great first half for us,” said Brandon Hudson, Cooper’s first-year coach. “I just told the girls yesterday in practice and again before the game how important today was for us if we wanted to continue our season. I told them you can’t come out flat. You can’t come out slow. You can’t be sloppy today, and they heard me. … It was probably one of our best halves this season.”

Not only did the Lady Coogs play tenacious defense in the half, but they hit six 3-point goals, while getting two more old-fashioned three-point plays. They had nine treys overall in the game. Lubbock High had none.

Speights scored 17 points in the half to spark her team. It was the last home game for Speights and five other seniors – Karrigan Parrott, Cheyenne Weems, Asjha Cherry, Marissa Chavez and French.

The seniors accounted for 61 points, including eight from Cherry and seven from Parrott. Cherry also surpassed 250 rebounds for her high school career.

“We’ve been waiting for this moment,” Speights said about the rematch with Lubbock High, which won the first meeting 73-60 on Jan. 10 in Lubbock. “Also, I feel like the influence on senior night tonight, that really helped us. Not just me, but everybody else on the team. That really did help us come together and play.”

Cooper outscored Lubbock High 14-8 in the third quarter to put the game away.

Faith Ford led the Lady Westerners with 21 points, and Kamille Reynolds had 10.

Getting that groove back

Cooper was coming off a 98-51 home loss to Monterey before that previous meeting with the Lady Westerners, and they went into a tailspin – losing five consecutive games, including a 51-50 loss to last-place Abilene High.

Hudson said his team didn’t look like the same one that struggled much of January.

“We’ve had other games kind of similar to that start, but, yeah, I’m like, ‘Where have ya’ll been for the last month?’ Hudson said. “They kind of laughed (and said), ‘We don’t know coach.’ I’m happy we found our mojo tonight. Let’s hope we can keep that going for a few more weeks.”

They’ll need a similar effort Tuesday at Coronado. The Lady Mustangs beat Cooper 58-41 on Jan. 13 in Abilene. The Lady Coogs were without Parrott and Cherry, who were on a student council trip.

“I told them in the locker just now, ‘If you want to continue, you have to play like we did today against Coronado on Tuesday,’” Hudson said. “I told them, ‘If we can, I don’t see really anybody beating us if we at least start the game like we did and get up by 20 at the half.’

“I think we can do it, but it’s not going to be easy. Coronado is a really well-coached team.”

DISTRICT 4-5A

Cooper 67, Lubbock High 48

Lubbock … 7 … 17 … 8 … 16 – 48

Cooper … 20 … 25 … 14 … 8 – 67

LUBBOCK HIGH (21-13, 5-6) – Izzy Palmer 2 3-4 7, Kamille Reynolds 5 0-0 10, Ciara Hernandez 1 2-2 4, Evalynn Rodriguez 3 0-0 6, Faith Ford 8 5-5 21, Saleh Harris 0 0-0 0, Pierce Scheppler 0 0-0 0. Totals 19 10-11 48.

COOPER (20-13, 4-7) – Jaedah Titus 0 0-0 0, Cheyenne Weems 0 0-0 0, Alliyah Ralston 1 0-0 3, Ashlynn French 7 3-6 19, Asjha Cherry 2 3-4 8, Karrigan Parrott 2 2-2 7, Kyla Speights 9 2-3 23, Mya Chavez 1 0-0 3, Marissa Chavez 2 0-0 4. Totals 23 10-15 67.

3-Point Goals – Lubbock 0, Cooper 9 (Ralston, French 2, Cherry, Parrott, Speights 3, My. Chavez). Total Fouls – Lubbock 16, Cooper 15. Fouled Out – Lubbock: Ford; Cooper: None. Technical Fouls – Lubbock: Ford; Cooper: None.

Rivera sparks Coogs

Jaelyn Rivera scored a career-high 30 points to lead Cooper past Lubbock High 43-30 in a District 4-5A game at Cougar Gym.

“He was hitting shots,” Cooper coach Bryan Conover said about Rivera, a 6-foot-5 senior. “He carried us. He’s a great player. That’s what they do. We needed him tonight. He played big inside. … We would have been lost if he wasn’t out there scoring tonight.”

Cooper (16-11, 6-3) snapped a two-game skid, having lost to Wylie 62-59 and Monterey 64-44 the two previous outings.

The Coogs got back on track playing their style of game – slow, half-court basketball and tough, tough defense.

“We got after it,” Conover said about his team’s defense. “We were not happy about the last couple of games, giving up 60-plus points. We challenged the kids. Our goal, we said, ‘Look, we need to hold these guys under 32 points.’ … To their credit, the kids accepted the challenge and went after it.”

Chris Vasquez led Lubbock High (4-26, 1-9) with 13 points.

The win, coupled with Wylie’s 61-47 upset at Coronado (17-10, 6-3) on Saturday, pulled the Coogs back into a tie with the Mustangs for second place. Monterey (21-8, 9-0) has all but locked up the district title.

Cooper can all but lock up the No. 2 seed with a win at Coronado on Tuesday in Lubbock. The Coogs beat the Mustangs 49-46 on Jan. 13 in Abilene. One more win or Wylie loss also clinches a playoff spot for Cooper.

This article originally appeared on Abilene Reporter-News: Abilene Cooper shreds Lubbock High in District 4-5A girls basketball