Parrott's free throws lift Abilene Cooper over No. 21 Stephenville girls in basketball
Once Stephenville fouled Karrigan Parrott with 3 seconds left in Tuesday's game and Cooper trailing by a point, Arsenio Geter knew his Lady Cougars had this one in the bag.
He had total confidence in Parrott.
“They fouled her, and I went and started high-fiving my wife behind the bench,” Geter said. “I said, ‘If they’re going to foul one of them, that’s one of them I want to be fouled.’” I just sat down and told her I trusted her.”
Parrott, a junior who transferred from Hawley, knocked down the first one, tying the game at 49. Stephenville then called a time out to ice her. It didn’t work.
Parrott hit the second, and Cooper beat the Honeybees 50-49 in the nondistrict game at Cougar Gym.
Cooper (13-9) scored the game’s final six points – the last four on free throws by Parrott – to pull out its fourth consecutive victory and beat Stephenville, which is ranked No. 21 in the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches’ Class 4A state poll.
“It’s not a surprise when we have a little lead and lose in the fourth quarter,” Geter said. “To be down at the end and comeback, that was big for us, especially against (Stephenville coach Jason) Hodges’ team. That’s a good win for us. That’s a good team.”
Alliyah Ralston, a freshman, led Cooper with a game-high 18 points, while J’Lee Sloan and Parrott had seven each.
Mya Wesley led the Honeybees (16-8) with 16 points, and Landri Withers had 12.
Both teams hit 18 field goals, including five 3-pointers each. Wesley had four treys for Stephenville, while Ralston led Cooper with four.
The difference in the game came at the free-throw line. Cooper hit 9 of 10 free throws, while Stephenville hit 8 of 13.
Cooper pounced on the Honeybees early.
The Lady Coogs led 19-10 at the end of the first quarter and had a 10-point lead in the second quarter before Stephenville fought back. Jaylee Matthews’ 3-point goal at the buzzer tied the game at 23 going into halftime.
Stephenville outscored Cooper 12-5 in the final 4:45 of the third quarter to take a 39-33 lead into the final frame.
The Honeybees led 49-44 with 38.5 seconds left in the game, thanks to four consecutives points by Mya Wilson – the last on two free throws. There was a 2½-minute span between Wilson's first basket and her free throws, when neither team scored.
After Wilson's two free throws, Sloan followed up her own miss on a 3-point attempt and scored with 22 seconds. Stephenville turned the ball over on the inbounds pass, and Parrott was fouled with 18 seconds left. She hit both free throws, pulling Cooper within one (49-48).
Cooper fouled Withers on the inbounds pass, and she missed the front-end of a one-and-one. Kyla Speights missed a shot at the other end, but Cooper got the rebound and Parrott was fouled before she could get a shot off.
After Parrott hit both free throws, Wesley missed a long 3-pointer taken before she could get to half court.
“We know that we turned the ball over too many times at the end,” Hodges said. “But we shouldn’t have been in that position. You get behind the eight ball early, and you’ve got to fight back, fight back. Sometimes, that zaps your energy. I thought we did a good job. Our kids are resilient. They’re going to bounce back. We’ll be fine.”
Stephenville plays No. 21 3A Little River-Academy at 6 p.m. Friday in Stephenville before opening District 6-4A at No. 12 Glen Rose on Tuesday.
Cooper opens District 4-5A play against Lubbock-Cooper on Friday at Cougar Gym. The Lady Pirates (16-4), ranked No. 8 in Class 5A, beat San Angelo Central 54-35 on Tuesday in Woodrow.
When you consider District 4-5A includes No. 19 Lubbock Monterey and a Lubbock High team that just beat Stephenville last week, you realize getting one of the four playoff spots won’t be easy.
“I feel like we’ve got a lot of good pieces on this year’s team,” Geter said. “When we’ve got all the cylinders firing off, we’re just as hard to beat as anybody. … I scheduled harder this year. We’ve seen a lot of good teams. We’ve beat a lot good teams. We’ve fallen to some teams that I feel like we shouldn’t have fallen to. But for the most part, I feel like it’s got us ready for district.”
Joey D. Richards covers Abilene high schools and colleges, Big Country schools and other local sports. Follow him at Twitter at ARN_Joey. If you appreciate locally driven news, you can support local journalists with a digital subscription to ReporterNews.com.
NONDISTRICT
Cooper 50, Stephenville 49
Stephenville … 10 … 13 … 16 … 10 – 49
Cooper … 19 … 4 … 10 … 17 – 50
STEPHENVILLE (16-8) – Kennedy Coffee 0 0-0 0, Landri Withers 6 0-3 12, Jaylee Matthews 1 1-2 4, Lillie Skiles 2 2-2 6, Trysten Monk 0 0-0 0, Mya Wilson 2 5-6 9, Lucy Espinoza 0 0-0 0, Audrey Brandon 0 0-0 0, Zoe Birdwell 1 0-0 2, Mya Wesley 6 0-0 16. Totals 18 8-13 49.
COOPER (13-9) – Jazlyn Hatcher 3 0-0 6, Alliyah Ralston 5 4-4 18, Jahlissah Marquez 0 0-0 0, Ariona French 3 0-0 6, Karrigan Parrott 1 4-4 7, Kyla Speights 0 0-0 0, Marissa Chavez 3 0-0 6, J’Lee Sloan 3 1-2 7. Totals 18 9-10 50.
3-Point Goals – Stephenville 5 (Matthews, Wesley 4), Cooper 5 (Ralston 4, Parrott). Total Fouls – Stephenville 12, Cooper 15. Fouled Out – None. Technical Fouls – None.
This article originally appeared on Abilene Reporter-News: Abilene Cooper beat Stephenville in girls basketball
