It’s been a season of ups-and-downs for the Cochrane High School girl’s senior basketball team, but the head coach says the team’s just happy to be back on the court.
This year marked the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic began that the team was able to play a mostly normal athletic season. Head coach Doug Jensen said some highs and lows have marked the team’s return to the game.
“We’ve had a really strong year,” Jensen said. “We’ve been ranked all year provincially, and currently, we’re ranked eighth in the province for 3A basketball.”
Last week, the team played in the divisional playoffs, making it to the semi-finals, where they faced off against the Chestermere Lakers.
“We lost to them in the semi-finals. We’ve played [Chestermere] four times this year and it’s been back-and-forth all year,” he said. “We’ve had some ups and downs — we haven’t won any tournaments, but we’ve won some pretty significant games.”
Jensen said the team is happy to be playing again despite the loss.
“Being part of a team, of course, is more than just playing the sport. It’s a family feeling of camaraderie. I think they’re all enjoying that,” he said.
The team does have another chance at a title for 2022, with the provincial zones tournament having begun this week. Jensen hopes to take lessons from the divisional loss and apply them to the team’s performance in zones.
“The biggest lesson is to match the other team’s aggressiveness,” he said. “We had a difficult time dealing with Chestermere’s aggressiveness and pressure. We’re a pretty young team … and all of our players haven’t had this competitive experience at the senior level due to COVID-19, so it’s still a learning process for us.”
Provincial 3A zones begin on March 17 in Red Deer.
