In this late edition of Memorable Bearcats, sorry real life got in the way, we tackle an unknown subject to most. I’m just going ahead and guessing that this person is an unknown, even though we’ve all seen their accomplishments. I’ll stop with the mystery, and tell you who this person is. It’s Cincinnati Hall of Famer Cheryl Cook. She has one of the 4 retired numbers at 5/3 Arena. I knew that she was great, but have never known anything about her besides she could ball. I am banking on the fact that none of you have googled her and you all are curious to know about her exploits like this guy is. Let’s take a look at the career of Cheryl Cook.
Cheryl Cook started lighting people up in high school. She’s an Indiana high school legend at Indianapolis Washington High. In her award winning senior season, she put in 29.7 points, 12 rebounds and 7 assists. She was Miss Indiana Basketball. Literally 4 days ago she was inducted in the Indiana State Basketball Hall of Fame. That’s quite the accomplishment for anyone. Congrats to her on that. Cook came to Cincinnati in 1981. She wasted no time in dropping points on women’s faces. She was known for her great passing. She continued her high school rebounding prowess as well. We’ll get into her UC career down low, but let’s talk about her after non-UC life. She was a member of the 1983 Pan Am Gold medal team, and the 1983 World Champions. She had an injury that caused her to not make the 1984 Olympic team. After she left UC, she would play in Spain and Italy. In Spain, He averaged 38.9 points a game. I’ll say that again, 38.9! It doesn’t matter if women can’t play basketball, that’s a ton. In Italy, she put up 25.7. She was a machine.
Cookie Monster as her friends, and I, call her scored an amazing 2,367 points in her Cincinnati career. That ranks first all time for the UC women, and at the time, it was good for 7th all time in women’s NCAA. Cook was a rebounding machine. She is 7th all time at UC in that category with 688. Cook also set the record for assists, with 360. She’s currently 5th place in that stat.
Let’s break down more of her spectacular stats. First in her career, and then we’ll look at season stats. She’s played the 4th most minutes in UC history, is 2nd in points a game with 20.8 (Linda Norwell averaged 21.2 in the 70s), first by far in field goals made with 962 (2nd has 731), first in field goals attempted with 2,158 (2nd is 1,707), second in free throws made and attempted, and fourth in steals. Cook was a 2 time Metro Conference Player of the Year, 2 time All Conference and 3 time All Tournament Team. She was a 2nd team All American American in 1985 and Honorable Mention in 1984.
Cook holds the top 2 ladies scoring seasons, going for 771 and 767 in 84-85 and 83-84 respectively. She averaged 27.5 and 27.4 a game in those seasons, which is second and third behind Norwell’s 28. Cook made 315 field goals in both seasons. She is 3rd and 5th in free throws made in a season, and 3rd and 6th in attempted. She had 131 assists in 82-83, which ranks 9th now, but was 2nd then. Cook also is tied for 10th with 69 steals in a season.
In single games, Cook is tied for second in points in a game, scoring 41 twice. She made 19 shots in a game which is first, 16 which is tied for 2nd, and 15 twice which is tied for 4th. She took 35 shots in a game, a game that was not any of the ones listed, and that’s the UC high. She also holds second with 33 (the 19 shots game and one of her 41 point games), third with 32 and fourth with 30 twice. One of the 30 shot games was her other 41 point game. Cook is tied for 2nd in free throws made in a game with 14. Her 12-12 performance is the most without a miss in UC history. Cook also has a 20 rebound game to her credit.
As you can see, Cheryl Cook was sensational. She more than earned her spot in the rafters. We see her name and number every game, and now we can all recognize what she did for UC women’s basketball. Cheryl Cook was awesome.
(Note: I used the history from Go Bearcats, so if it’s really wrong, blame them for faulty info.)
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