‘Big stat line’ and clutch threes lift shorthanded Mercy to surprising Sweet 16 win

As Mercy and Cooper warmed up on the Rupp Arena court prior to their Mingua Beef Jerky Girls’ Sweet 16 first-round clash on Thursday, much of the attention on press row focused on who wasn’t dressed for the Louisville private school.

But the Jaguars in Columbia blue and white have had time to adjust to the day-to-day nature of the injury to regular starting point guard and second-leading scorer Alyssa Murphy over the last few weeks.

And after Mercy’s 70-64 win over Cooper led by the exceptional play of forwards Leah Macy and Emma Barnett, perhaps concern should be saved for their future opponents.

Macy scored 37 points and grabbed a near-record 21 rebounds while Barnett added 14 points and didn’t miss a shot from three-point range as the Jags shredded Cooper’s normally stout defense.

“It’s been ‘next man up’ for us for a little while,” said Mercy Coach Nick Cann, who used only six players in the win. “These girls have all kind of evolved into what they need to do for us to get out here and compete with some of the best teams in the state.”

Mercy (25-9) gained confidence early in the game even though Cooper tried to exploit Murphy’s absence like some other teams have done recently. Mercy’s opponents have sagged away from some players to focus defensive attention on Macy. Bullitt East nearly pulled off a region finals upset of Mercy last week doing just that.

“We’ve worked hard on what to do when that happens, so we were prepared for that,” Cann said. “And then once we got to the lead, they couldn’t do that anymore.”

Sophomore Leah Macy (44) powered Mercy to a first-round victory by producing 37 points and 21 rebounds against Cooper.

Cooper’s Liz Freihofer, right, and Mercy’s Addyson Becker (1) dive for a loose ball Thursday night. Freihofer scored 15 points, 11 of them free throws.

Macy scored 14 points in a decisive third quarter that included two of Barnett’s four three-pointers. Mercy’s Mary Smith added nine points and had four assists. Macy’s rebound total tied her with Bullitt East’s Gracie Merkle for second-most in a game all-time.

“Leah’s got the big stat line,” Cann said. “I don’t have it in front of me, but it’s a lot of points and a lot of rebounds … Emma was huge. She was 4-for-4 from behind the three-point line and we needed every single one of them.

Barnett’s first three-pointer gave Mercy a 29-28 lead after the Jags trailed by two at halftime. Her second three pointer a few minutes later put Mercy up 44-38 with 1:44 left in the third.

“I know my team has a lot of confidence in me when I do shoot,” Barnett said.

By the end of the period, Mercy outscored Cooper 23-12 and took a nine-point lead. Cooper made just one field goal in 11 third quarter attempts. For the game, Cooper made only three of 22 three-point attempts and shot 34.5 percent from the field overall.

“It was just an off night,” Cooper Coach Justin Holthaus said. “We didn’t make enough shots and then … and we just didn’t get enough offensive rebounds and second-chance opportunities.”

Despite the shooting woes, Cooper clawed back into the game in the final minutes as Barnett got her fifth foul and Macy had to play tentatively with four. Cooper trimmed an 11-point deficit to 68-64 with 43 seconds left as its full-court press yielded steals and layups. That’s as close as it would get.

“Yeah, it was a little scary there for a couple of minutes,” said Macy, who recounted how she and her teammates dealt with Cooper’s scramble. “Just keeping myself under control and not doing anything stupid, you know, offensively or defensively … and grabbing every rebound.”

Whitney Lind led Cooper (29-4) with 16 points, followed by Liz Freihofer with 15 and Maleah Alexander with 10.