Head Coach Paul Lindsay says his team goals and expectations remain the same from year-to-year.

 

“Win the conference, win sections and win state,” he said.

 

Could this year’s team be that team?

 

Only time will tell.

 

“This is a very senior-oriented team,” said Lindsay. “I feel very confident about this team because they are a very hard working group with a lot of experience.”

 

Lindsay has been the girls head coach since taking over for Justin Hegna in 2008. His assistant coach system pretty much stays the same with Steve Whittaker coaching seventh grade, Reyan Robinson eight grade, Brianna Mastey the JV squad and Scott Gudmundson his varsity assistant. The big change this year is Paul’s son, Michael — a huge star with the boys Bulldogs team just a few years ago — will coach the ninth grade team.

 

“And when Heather Fahsl is not busy with training duties, she is one of our varsity assistants too,” the head coach said.

 

The team managers are Payton Bernstrom and Sam Clarksean.

 

This year, Lindsay has some size and muscle in the middle with returning starters Alex Johnson, Maddie Kerzman and Kalley Anderson. They cause matchup problems for opposing coaches as teams try to figure out how to navigate or arc shots over the towering centers.

 

At guard, Lindsay can utilize the talents of Whitney Raygor, Amanda Lindsay (Paul’s daughter), Alexa Hanowski, Rachel Vogel and Abbigail Morrell, all who possess great ball-handling skills and can score from just about anywhere.

 

Lindsay has approximately 30 girls on the JV and varsity squads. His team will sport new uniforms this year and the league has issued a new rule emphasizing less contact anywhere on the floor.

 

The new uniforms (home and away), new scoreboards, championship banners, shooting shirts, backpacks, socks and warm up pants donated by fundraising efforts from the youth basketball program, Lindsay’s team is surrounded by “newness” and optimism as his team takes to the floor for their first home game Dec. 11 against Big Lake. Their first regular season game of the year was Thursday against Dassel-Cokato (see results at the end of this article).

 

Last year, Becker had the likes of Monticello, Zimmerman, St. Cloud Apollo, Delano, Orono, Rocori and Big Lake to deal with in Section 5AAA. This year, Delano and Orono move to a different section while Willmar moves to challenge the Bulldogs in the playoffs Lindsay’s team captains are Rachel Vogl, Amanda Lindsay and Abbie Morrell.

 

“It’s enjoyable to be around the younger players and their enthusiasm,” said Coach Lindsay. “I’m really excited for this year’s season.”

 

Section play will be seeded Feb. 27 with quarterfinal tournament play starting Mar. 2, semi-finals Mar. 5 and finals Mar. 10.

 

 

Becker traveled to Dassel-Cokato Thursday for their first game of the regular season. The Chargers came away with the win by four.

 

Alex Johnson led all scorers with 15 but DC’s Taylor Sangren and Alayna Johnson both scored 11 to tumble the Bulldogs.

 

Also scoring for Becker were Vogl (9), Hanowski (7), Morrell (5), Benda (4), Lindsay (2), Tripp (1) and Thorn (1).