By Greg Sherman
SAN ANTONIO – Jazzy Owens-Barnett, the 2020 5A title game MVP, didn’t look like the reigning MVP for most of the state semifinal game vs Lubbock Cooper.
Then she showed why.
The junior scored the go-ahead basket with 15 seconds left in overtime, then blocked the potential game winning shot as Frisco Liberty defeated Lubbock Cooper 39-37 in overtime to advance back to the 5A final for the third straight year. The defending champions will face Cedar Park for the gold medal on 7 p.m., Wednesday at the Alamodome.
Liberty (24-8) missed a slew of free throws late but Owens-Barnett and teammates did just enough to advance.
“I just saw the opening,” Owens-Barnett said. “Ashley (Anderson) kind of cleared out for me and I saw the girl set up to take a charge and I just zeroed on her.”
Owens-Barnett finished with 10 points as the Redhawks shot under 30% from the field.
“Ball pressure and we wanted them to go their big a lot,” Owens-Barnett said. “They’re a really good shooting team so we would rather get points on the inside than out.”
Lily Ziemkiewicz led all scorers with 15 points, most of that in the opening half.
“Our defense is what got us through,” Ziemkiewicz said. “Jazzy working her tail at the end getting a charge. Everyone working hard rotating. Offensively definitely saw some missed free throws especially from me. I need to hit those.”
They were able to go at their slow pace but had to speed up at times to match what Cooper brought in their own tempo.
“We don’t try to play so slow paced honestly we are just patient offensively,” said Ziemkiewicz. “If we dont like the shot, we’re not going to take it and we just honestly know each other. Knowing who’s hitting, knowing different game situations and we try to get it to whoever we feel we want in the moment to have it.”
Autumn Moore hit a late shot to send the game to overtime for Cooper (28-4) and had the only field goal in bonus time for the Pirates, but she fouled out with 6 points. Bella Sipowicz finished with 11 for Lubbock Cooper.
