Lady Bulldogs begin season next week

The Douglas Lady Bulldogs kick off their season next week playing three games.

The Lady Bulldogs will be on the road Nov. 27 at Empire and Nov. 30 at Sahuarita before hosting Willcox Dec. 1 in what will be the Lady Bulldogs home opener.

Clint Hill returns to coach the varsity squad this year. Assisting him will be Lorena Tapia who will coach the junior varsity and Camilla Altree who will coach the freshmen.

Hill estimated 45 girls came out for basketball this year. Hill says he will keep 12-15 players on the varsity and about the same number on the other two levels.

Hill will be looking to seniors Karina Avechuco and Aleen Nunez to help lead the team this year along with Janella Frantzeskakis and Marissa Aguirre.

The coach said he likes what he sees from this team so far.

“We lost a good bunch of girls last year but a lot of the others who are coming back have matured a lot this year,” he said. “We should be better inside. We have some big girls that can really play.”

Hill said once again he will need to beat teams with their speed.

“We never have a lot of height so we’re going to be doing a lot of pressing and getting the ball down the court,” he said. “We also have some really good three point shooters.”

The coach will be looking to Veronica Barraza and Sophia Pena to hit shots from the outside.

“It’s looking good,” the coach said. “It’s hard to replace some of the talent we lost last year but I think we will do fine.”

Hill said a lot of the girls did not take part in the summer program but the ones that did have improved.

The coach said he and his team are looking forward to the season finally starting.