Both Cochrane High Cobras basketball teams wrapped up their respective seasons after hosting their first Alberta Schools’ Athletic Association (ASAA) Provincial Championship from March 15 to 17.
Although the girls team didn’t take home a medal during the tournament after finishing fifth, boosting their provincial ranking to the second highest it has been in Cobra history. In 2004, the Cobras finished third in the provincial tournament.
The girls started strong in this year’s provincials with a 60-42 win over H.J. Cody High School in the first of two games on March 15, advancing them to the tournament quarter-finals against the top-ranked team from Spruce Grove’s St. Peter the Apostle Catholic High School. The Cobras fought hard over the course of the game, but fell to the Spartans 73-54, which put the Cobras in the consolation side of the tournament.
After a tough loss, the girls bounced back with a gritty, hard-fought 67-61 win over fourth-ranked Brooks before beating Morinville Community High School 69-56 to win the consolation bracket.
Cobras head coach Randy Peron was very happy with how his team played over the course of the provincial tournament, regardless of the fact that his team didn’t bring home a medal for their efforts.
“I was very pleased with how we played against everybody. We showed that we deserved to be in the tournament, not because we hosted but because we can compete with anyone in the province,” Peron said proudly.
“We ended up beating the fourth best team (in Brooks), the seventh-ranked team (Morinville) and we had a really good game against the No. 1 ranked squad (St. Peter the Apostle). It just shows how much work and dedication the girls had throughout and I was very proud of their effort on the court for the whole weekend.”
With almost every game in the tournament being decided by fewer than 15 points, Peron said high school basketball in Alberta is growing and becoming more competitive with every coming season.
“Especially in 3A basketball, there really is no true No. 1 team. On any given night, anyone has a chance to knock off a team that’s higher than them … we proved that as we were one of the lower ranked teams coming into provincials,” Peron said.
“The second-ranked team in W.R. Myers High School from down south won the tournament so it just shows the balance of basketball in Alberta is pretty equal. It just shows the depth of Alberta basketball and that was proven this weekend throughout the tournament.”
The long-time Cobras head coach also said this season was filled with a lot of great memories and he was very proud to see the growth of each individual on his team from the start of the season in early December to the team’s final game on March 17.
“We’ve come along way. We introduced a brand new defensive system to the girls and both myself and assistant coach Doug Jensen knew it would take time for the new defence to kick in,” Peron said.
“But right after our Phoenix trip during Christmas, our record is 16-5 since Jan. 14. The last eight weeks, that was our record and it was in large part due to our team defence.”
“We had an incredible last eight weeks of the season … we also showed a lot of patience with the girls. When we’d get behind in games, we usually were able to take the lead back and we truly were a second-half team. The stats proved it. We knew it didn’t matter how far behind we got, we were able to bounce back and take the lead.”
“We’re going to enjoy this moment and we won’t worry about next season until next year rolls around. We’re going to have a strong team but we won’t think about that until next year.”
The Cobra boys also fought hard throughout the duration of their tournament. The boys had a tough opening game, losing 79-60 to Grande Prairies’ St. Joseph Catholic High School, which put the boys into the consolation side of the tournament. Cochrane High would follow up that game with a 77-59 win over W.R. Myers High as well as a 69-36 victory over Morinville Community High to finish the tournament in ninth place, two spots higher than their 11th place-ranking coming into the tournament.
