The Cochrane Cobras senior girls basketball team are off to an outstanding start to their Rocky View Sports Association (RVSA) season. After defeating the four-time defending league champions Chestermere Cowboys 44-38 in their own gym on Dec. 5 and Springbank 71-34 on Dec. 12, the Cobras won all of their games in the 11th annual Cochrane Classic tournament that took place Dec. 13 to 15 to take the title. It was the second straight year the Cobras made the tournament finals with a 57-37 victory over Canmore. The girl also took down Strathmore 63-40 and the Henry Wisewood Warriors 55-35 in their two earlier games to punch their spot in the championship game. "So far we're trending the right way in regards to our development for this early part of our season. The strength of the team is having so many returnees that have been through this wars and battles ... this year I have eight returning players," said Cobras head coach Randy Peron. "It sure makes a difference to have so many seniors who all have really good experience and have learned from the past in order to win. We were in the finals last year which we lost due to first quarter nerves and all the veterans wanted to get back into the final and got rewarded due to our depth and team defence which has given us a lot of early season success." "Winning the Cochrane Classic is a huge confidence builder. To win a tournament of that calibre, it gives them the experience moving forward to know that they can win in other tournaments as well as league, zones and hopefully provincials. They've got that experience and they now know what it takes to win a championship ... this is the first Cochrane Classic title we've won in the 11 years its been hosted so that's pretty special for this group of student-athletes. They'll never forget it and hopefully moving forward that experience will help us in the back half of our year." Through five games so far this season, the Cobras have averaged 58 points per game, while only giving up an average of 37 points per contest. The team has only allowed more than 40 points once, which is something Peron feels is very important moving forward. "With our buy in to team defence, you have to offer them something that compliments their skill set. You can't offer them something that just won't work," Peron said. "With the players that I've coached, the systems that I teach defensively, they've bought into those systems. As a coach you have to teach them that it's just as fun to defend as it is to score and they've accepted that. The girls know championships are won by defending ... I always bring up the situation I was in coaching at Western, we were at provincials, we scored over 100 points and still lost because we couldn't stop the other team. The kids love to defend and we have numerous systems to use defensively and the kids like it." Peron said success has really been a team effort this year, but point guard Makenna Kuzyk has stepped up and played a key role for the Cobras early in the season. "All my grade 12s have stepped up this year, but we've had a rash of injuries and flu bug that hit us so Makenna has really stepped her game up in both ends of the court ... she's been really noticeable as a leader, distributor, defender and scorer this last weekend at the (Cochrane) Classic because we were down two Grade 12 starting guards who were either sick or injured," Peron said. "Makenna stepped her game up in a big way. Our bigs (center, power forward and small forward) had stood out each game, which really shows the depth we've got where there isn't pressure on just one player to go out and perform. With all the depth we have, it's a unified effort to go out and contribute because it's such a team thing. We don't depend on one player, we rely on each other to get the job done." The Cobras senior boys team also won the final game after defeating the Monsignor McCoy Colts 81-70 in the final. Cochrane High will now have the remainder of December off for the Christmas break with the exception of a few light practices before the team will return to action on Jan. 10 when they host W.H. Croxford.
