Cooper returns for pivotal role in Cony quest

AUGUSTA – A challenging senior season ended on a high note for Cony of Augusta’s Cassie Cooper.

The 6-foot-1 guard, who helped the Rams win their second Class A girls basketball state championship in three years with a 46-41 victory over McAuley of Portland on Saturday, missed the final 11 games of the regular season with a high ankle sprain suffered in a game at Bangor.

But she came back for postseason play, and played a role both prominent and subtle in helping Cony secure its seventh state title in the program’s history.

Cooper scored nine points in the state final, but her ballhandling and court presence also helped Cony cope with McAuley’s defensive pressure, and her rebounding strength helped the Rams controll the backboards.

“She’s not at full health, but what she does settles us down,” said Cony coach Paul Vachon. “She made some great passes, and that’s what’s great about Cassie Cooper. Not that she didn’t have a great year, but if she could have been 100 percent, it would have been greater.”

Cooper admitted she needed a few breathers during the contest, but her contributions were perhaps most important in the game’s final minutes, when she orchestrated Cony’s ball-control approach to working the clock and then followed in her own missed shot for a key basket.

“You can see her ballhandling ability, and she’s only 70 percent, healthwise and staminawise,” said Vachon. “But she’s 100 percent with her heart.”

As for Cooper, she admits she’s not at 100 percent physically as she continues to recover from her injury.

But as for the team?

“We’re at 100 percent,” she said. “We’re state champs.”

Next level awaits Cimino

As disappointed as she was in the aftermath of McAuley of Portland’s loss to Cony of Augusta in the Class A girls basketball final, Ashley Cimino couldn’t resist the calls of the next generation.

So the 6-foot-3 center stopped to sign autographs for some young fans before heading to the solace of the McAuley locker room.

It’s a testament to Cimino’s play throughout her high school career that her autograph is important to younger girls basketball players from around the state.

While Saturday wasn’t the best day for the state’s first McDonald’s All-American – she had seven points, four blocked shots and three rebounds, and shot 3 of 11 from the field – the future is indeed bright for Cimino, who will join one of the nation’s elite Division I programs at Stanford next year.

Only there she’ll play as a small forward, rather than at center where she was needed at McAuley.

“She’s playing out of position here,” said McAuley coach Wil Smith. “She’s making a huge sacrifice for us by playing the five. She’s a natural three, and she’s not going to play with her back to the basket in college.

“I really appreciate the fact that she made that sacrifice for us and played with her back to the basket when we asked her to, but it’s not her natural position.”