Last year, Head Coach Paul Lindsay relied on his team's quickness and perimeter shooting to finish with an 8-8 record in the Granite Ridge Conference. They exited the playoffs quickly when they faced undefeated Albany in the first round and lost by 30 points, 63-33.
This year's team, Lindsay hopes, will be more eager, tenacious and fierce as they battle with the likes of Foley, Cathedral and Princeton who have used their muscle underneath to cause havoc on his smaller, quicker teams.
"We're young in age but not experience," Lindsay says. "Our underclassmen have played at extremely high levels the last few years and that experience will be beneficial to this year's team."
Lindsay likes his girls' size, too, noting he has a number of girls in the six-feet range that'll give some teams headaches when it comes to matchups.
"We have some decent size this year with a couple girls close to six feet or bigger," he said. "It's early in the year but I already see us being along a lot farther this year than we were starting last season."
Lindsay's team was devastated last year when prior to their first regular season game, senior star Jenna Morrell went down with her second knee injury that basically ended her high school basketball career.
"That hurt us tremendously because I was expecting Jenna to be our leading scorer and when you lose someone of that caliber just before the season starts, it puts the team on a tough, up-hill road emotionally," he said.
Stepping up and taking the team's scoring role, junior guard Mauren Thiesen averaged 12 points a game while leading her Bulldog squad to a .500 record during the regular season.
This year's team consists of four seniors who Lindsay will look upon to lead by example and play most of the minutes. Those seniors are Allison Cieslak, Ashley Neuwirth, Alyson Fisher and Marikate Wegeleben.
"We have a younger group of girls who have a lot of potential and I think with that potential and some year-'round experience, we're gonna be pretty good this year," said Neuwirth.
Neuwirth - who along with Fisher plays golf in the spring - participated on the Minnesota Firestorm Blue girls basketball team during the offseason to sharpen her skills as a basketball player and gain more experience with some of the best high school players in the state.
Lindsay lost one of his assistant coaches (Josh Ihrke) but has Stacey Spindler returning to the team after sitting out last year due to maternity leave. He also has Ken Thiesen and Scott Gudmundson as assistants with Spindler taking over Ihrke's spot as JV coach.
"Our attitude this year is very different," noted Wegeleben. "The girls seem to be more confident and the younger girls are giving us a lot of energy."
The team's roster includes Neuwirth, Wegeleben, Fisher, Cieslak, Alexa Hanowski, Rachel Vogel, Amanda Lindsay, Whitney Raygor, Maesyn Thiesen, Alex Johnson and Carlee Kobow.
The Lady Bulldogs have two road and one home games next week. The first game Tuesday is at Annandale and the second is Thursday at Foley. Friday the Bulldogs host the Big Lake Hornets at 7:15 p.m.
DC 51, Becker 34
The Bulldogs lost to the Dassel-Cokato Chargers by 17 Thursday on the road.
No other scoring information was available by press time.
Tigers 73, Bulldogs 58
The Bulldogs played with energy, confidence and proficiency while utilizing good depth to rally twice against the Tigers of Princeton Tuesday night, but foul trouble and sloppy defense down the stretch plagued the Bulldogs as they lost by 15 at home.
Mauren Thiesen led the way for the Bulldogs, scoring 12 points including two three pointers. Head Coach Paul Lindsay’s team had six players who scored six points apiece including Alexa Hanowski, Whitney Raygor, Allison Cielsak, Maesyn Thiesen and Carlee Kobow.
Princeton was led by three players reaching double figures, including Haley Sandin (15), Jenna Doyle (15) and Danielle Chmielewski (12).
The halftime score was Princeton 34, Becker 22.
