On a night when she was honored for scoring the 1,000th point of her career, Rocelia Cooper didn’t want it ruined by a loss.
So the Holy Child guard led a furious fourth-quarter rally and made the night complete, leading the Tigers to a 55-53 overtime win.
Cooper scored 21 points, grabbed 13 rebounds, made 10 steals and blocked three shots as Holy Child rallied from 14 points down. The Tigers did it with defense as Cooper had half of her steals in the final five minutes of regulation to unnerve the visitors. The key play came with a minute left as Cooper picked the pocket of a Flint Hill guard and hit a whirling layup for a one-point lead.
“I could tell they were a little [unraveled],” said Cooper, a 5-8 senior. “I felt bad for them. But that’s what we needed to do to get back in the game. Defense always brings our offense back together.”
Cooper’s heroics were just that.But they wouldn’t have been possible had it not been for an injury to Flint Hill senior Rhianna Faithfull (14 points). As the Santa Clara-bound guard hit a jumper late in the third period, she came down on the foot of a Holy Child player and sprained her ankle.
“That helped a little bit,” said Cooper. “But we boxed out more, played defense, and played more like a team.”
Junior forward Allison Abt contributed 21 points and 11 rebounds. Junior forward Megan Schneider blocked a layup attempt as time expired in the extra period as Holy Child (12-1, 4-1) continued to impress in its first year in the Independent School League’s upper division, the ISL AA, while Flint Hill fell to 4-10, 1-3.
In like Flint
» Flint Hill outrebounded Holy Child 52-35.
» Flint Hill’s Chelsea Overholt had 12 points and 11 rebounds.
» In the final 13 minutes, Flint Hill went 0-for-12 from the floor and committed 14 turnovers.
