The Nobles senior class formed perhaps the best and most productive trio in New England this winter.
Point guard Christina Pham was the scoring leader and instant highlight reel. Ashley Dinges was the powerful driving scorer, offensive rebounder and shot-blocker from the wing.
But Jasmyn Cooper made the 30-2, NEPSAC Class AAA runner-up Bulldogs click. The 6-foot-1 forward did it all, averaging 16.4 points, 8.2 rebounds and 5.3 assists while frequently shutting down the top individual opponent on defense.
It sometimes feels like Cooper flies under the radar — as much as is possible for a Syracuse-bound, 60th-ranked national recruit. But her willingness to share the spotlight, yet take it when she needs to, makes her our Class AAA Player of the Year.
AWARD SEASON:Â See our All-Class AAA teams and individual honors
In past seasons, Cooper has readily deferred to star teammates on loaded Nobles rosters. But following the graduation of four Division 1 college athletes (Grace Oliver, Nasi Simmons, Tahira Muhammad and Tori Balser) from last year's Class AA championship team, Cooper, Pham and Dinges were the only seniors and significant rotation players returning.
"I've always played on teams where I'm kind of the younger girl," Cooper said. "Versus this year, being that senior captain and having a lot more underclassmen than usual kind of put a test on me, which I think I took full advantage of, to be that big sister for them."
On the court, that meant seizing the moments to score when needed. Cooper asserted herself throughout different points of the season, be it with 17 points in Nobles' first win over Tilton or 16 in the Bulldogs' biggest win of the season against Tabor. Even in the Class AAA championship loss to Tilton, Cooper brought her best, scoring 17 points and leading the 14-4 fourth-quarter rally that briefly tied the game at 66.
Cooper said she was most proud of her growth as a three-level scorer this winter. She made quicker decisions and felt more confident using the mid-range and driving to the rim. Part of the motivation came from wanting to show younger teammates how to score confidently and play through misses.
"Having a younger group of girls on my team, they're automatically going to be a little bit hesitant (and) unsure of the decisions they're making in the game," Cooper said. "It's OK to drive the ball hard and aggressive and miss, and not get a foul call and get back (on defense). It's OK to make mistakes. And I feel like, to be that role model for the (younger) girls, I had to showcase and be confident in myself so that I can instill confidence in them."
MORE PLAYERS OF THE YEAR: Class AA | Class A | Class B
This Player of the Year award focuses solely on the past season of basketball. But Cooper will also finish high school as one of the premier regional winners in recent memory. She went 88-6 in her three years at Nobles, capturing two Class AA titles before finishing second in Class AAA. Cooper won an MIAA Division 2 championship at Oliver Ames before transferring, and in AAU, she led MCW Starz to a runner-up finish on the Select Power 24 circuit last summer.
From the outside, Cooper's rise seems steady and solid. But she says she dealt with shaky confidence, particularly during her freshman year around the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, because she often compared herself to other top players online.
"(I) kind of went to a dark place and was not really confident in my game — wasn't confident in who I was," she said. "And then it made me, in turn, feel isolated. But looking back on that today — how far I've come, what I've gone through and how I've grown — I'm so grateful to all types of experiences I've experienced since then. But staying patient and staying on your own track, and not assuming that one person's path is the only path to where you want to get to, is the biggest thing."
Cooper has since grown into a young adult confident in her on-court and off-court identities. She's excited for Syracuse in part because of college basketball, but also because the school can help her further explore working to promote diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). Cooper first spoke about discovering the interest when she discussed committing to Syracuse; she's only become more passionate in the months since.
"I definitely feel this motivation of being a young woman of color in a sport that is so that I think is mostly predominantly women of color. I feel like we need more positive representation in that category of identity because of how much adversity just women of color face on a day-to-day basis, and how much their lives are thrown into politics and all of that," she said.
"We need to make sure we're having accurate, positive role models to reflect, 'Hey, it's OK. We have people that are here for you. We hear you, we see you, and we're gonna do our best to show you that life does get better.'"
