Cooper splits games with Kinkaid

THE WOODLANDS, Texas – The John Cooper School boys’ and girls’ basketball teams split home games with Southwest Preparatory Conference (SPC) rival Kinkaid on Tuesday.

The Dragons came out victorious by a 62-36 score while the Lady Dragons dropped a 53-32 decision to Kinkaid.

Both teams opened SPC play at home with a split against Austin schools, St. Andrews Episcopal and St. Stephens Episcopal on consecutive nights.

The boys’ team made a dramatic second-half rush after being down in the first half, only to lose to St. Andrews Episcopal, 41-40.

“We didn’t start the game with much energy, so we were down 29-16 at halftime,” said Dragons coach Mike Cooper. “We made a tremendous comeback, holding St. Andrew’s to 12 points in the second half, but losing 41-40, just missing a last-second shot.”

The Dragons chalked up a win over St. Stephens.

“We continued what we did the second half the night before and played our most complete game of the year, playing with energy from the tip to the final buzzer,” Cooper said. “We were leading 33-15 at halftime and never relinquished less than a 10-point lead in the second half, beating St. Stephen’s 62-46.”

Cooper girls opened their SPC season with a win against an energetic team from Austin St. Andrews. The first quarter ended with the Dragons trailing 15-9.

“Our motto all year has been, ‘outwork your opponent and play for the fourth quarter.’ Our girls did exactly that and eventually took over the game,” said Lady Dragons coach Rod Gold.

St. Andrews had a difficult time trying to match the Dragons’ work ethic and Cooper outscored the visitors in the second and third quarters to finish with a 50-43 win.

The girls matched up next against St. Stephens, a preseason favorite to win the SPC Championships. As expected it proved to be a tough test but Cooper played inspired defense holding the visitors to 20 first half points. The Dragons employed a full-court man-to-man press creating several turnovers and closing the lead to 8 points, but in the end fell short as the Spartans extended the lead to 30-5 as a final score.

“Our girls fought hard and we gave them a scare,” said Gold. “Our press was very effective. One of our main focuses going into the game was to be competitive on the boards, and I am proud of our team and our effort. I believe we outworked our opponent, but the early deficit was a little too big to overcome.”

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