Basketball is not Naperville Central sophomore Sophia Cochran’s first sport.
Lately, however, she’s been second to none at two things, defending and rebounding. The first isn’t surprising considering Cochran was a starting defender on the soccer team as a freshman.
“I play soccer as my main sport,” she said. “I know basketball is definitely something difficult to play, but something that’s not that different is the attacking of the ball.
“So as long as you find out where it’s going to go, then you can attack it and make sure you get it in your hands.”
Cochran is getting the ball in her hands a lot, and the stunning thing is how she’s doing it. The 5-foot-8 guard scored five points but more importantly grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds to help lift Naperville Central to a 52-41 victory over rival Naperville North in the Class 4A Naperville North Regional championship game on Thursday.
The third-seeded Redhawks (25-6) have beaten the sixth-seeded Huskies (20-11) three times this season and advance to play second-seeded Waubonsie Valley (30-3) in the East Aurora Sectional semifinals at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Cochran is no stranger to beating Naperville North. During the soccer season last year, she scored the game-winning goal in a 2-0 victory over the Huskies. But nobody anticipated what Cochran did Thursday. She wasn’t a starter until late last month.
“Not only wasn’t she starting, she wasn’t playing,” Naperville Central coach Andy Nussbaum said. “The first time we played North, I don’t think she played at all.
“But there was a point at which we made the decision to play man-to-man, and Sophia is one of our best two man-to-man defenders.”
That’s not a coincidence.
“I feel my main position in basketball is defending, even though you’re on both sides of the court,” Cochran said. “I feel like I translate that over a lot from soccer. I have that same mindset.”
Cochran may excel at the defensive end of the court, but she’s just as tenacious at the other end. The Redhawks outrebounded the Huskies 43-21 overall and 18-3 on the offensive glass, and Cochran had seven of those offensive rebounds, including a crucial one with her team trailing 15-12. She scored on a putback with 12 seconds left in the first quarter, triggering a 10-0 run, and the Redhawks led the rest of the way.
“She gives us a great job on the defensive end,” Nussbaum said. “She usually gets their best player assigned to her, but the rebounds is something I didn’t expect.
“I mean, she goes after the ball, and that’s not the standard for everybody. There’s a lot of standing around, but Sophia has only one gear, and that’s top gear. She’s like when you drive a go-kart and never use the brake, pedal to the floor. That’s Sophia Cochran.”
Indeed, this isn’t the first big rebounding game for Cochran. She had 13 rebounds when the Redhawks beat Waubonsie Valley 68-65 on Feb. 10 to clinch the DuPage Valley Conference title.
That’s remarkable considering Cochran plays alongside 6-4 junior center Annabelle Kritzer and 6-2 senior guard Trinity Jones, a Clemson recruit and a McDonald’s All-American Game selection.
Jones had a game-high 21 points and nine rebounds against the Huskies, while Kritzer added eight points and 10 rebounds. Junior guard Ava Podkasik paced the Huskies with nine points and 10 rebounds.
Nussbaum said Cochran reminds her a bit of Callie Tumilty, who plays soccer at Ohio State.
“She’s got decent size, and she’s a tremendous athlete,” Nussbaum said of Cochran. “She doesn’t handle the ball as well as Callie did, but when Callie played for us, she gave us that kind of athleticism. I would not be surprised if Sophia is a DI athlete in that sport with the spotted ball.”
Naperville Central senior guard Erin Hackett, a Carthage College basketball commit who had 15 points, five rebounds and four steals, has played both sports with Cochran.
“She kind of came in thinking she was going to be a bench player, but she’s willing to work,” Hackett said. “She’s everywhere on the court, so I think that helps out a lot.
“I think this is one of her best games overall. She was being very aggressive on the offensive boards.”
It helped the Redhawks win a regional title.
“It was amazing,” Cochran said. “Freshman year, I don’t think I would have ever dreamed of being up here, just to play with these girls. It’s definitely something that I never imagined, but it’s amazing it has happened.”
Matt Le Cren is a freelance reporter.
