MHS girls looking forward to have a competitive team

MHS girls looking forward to have a competitive team

Dec. 9, 2000

BY JIM THOMAS
Journal Sports Editor

There is one thing about Mancos High School girls varsity basketball, the team comes ready to play.

The Blue Jays, although will be young and inexperienced considering most of members off last season’s Regional qualifiers graduated, are nonetheless looking forward to a competitive season.

"We have only two seniors (Kerri Morgan and Amanda Kennedy) along with a bunch of newcomers. Morgan and Katie Paxton were starters while Kennedy was first off the bench. So, I guess you would have to say that we have a fairly young and inexperienced team. We don’t have a lot of experienced girls who have been in pressure situations," MHS coach Kevin Dimmick reported.

The team’s defensive philosophy about pressuring people and style of play will be the same.

"We want to get back on defense quickly; get set up," he explained. "We will also press full court at times as well. If we have to beat teams five on five then we will struggle a bit. We have good speed and, quickness will be better this year."

Look for junior Lacey Morris, junior Rachel Russell, junior Amy Smith, junior Jolene Thomas, and sophomore Jori Yeomans to see plenty of playing time. Others on the varsity include soph Cambria Hanson, and soph Kassi Paxton.

Offensively, every chance, the Blue Jays plan to fast break. Thus, the transition game will be a key ingredient as to how well the team plays. The team worked on breaks this summer and had some success with it.

One glaring weakness before the season starts is the team’s overall lack of height. Russell is the tallest girl at 5-foot-10.

"If we stand in there (in the paint) and let people do things to us, we are going to be in for a lot of trouble. Blocking out and getting those rebounds will be very important to us. It will be critical for us," he remarked.

The Blue Jays opened play Friday, Dec. 1, against Monticello, Utah, in the Monticello Tournament. Mancos won 57-29. They played again Saturday, Dec. 2, against Green River, Utah, and won 47-18. They are 2-0 on the young season. (See related story).

They traveled to Ignacio on Tuesday, Dec. 5, and they will host Bayfield at 6 p.m. today, Dec. 9. The annual Blue Jay Classic with games for MHS on Tuesday, Friday and Saturday of the week of Dec. 18-23 will close the 2000 portion of the schedule.

The Blue Jays will host Ignacio on Jan. 5 after the Christmas-New Year’s break. They visit Bayfield on Jan. 6. They open San Juan Basin League play with a visit to Dolores County on Jan. 13 and they return home to host Norwood Jan. 19. Nucla is a road game on Jan. 20. They host Telluride Jan. 26 and visit Dolores Jan. 27. They host Dolores County Feb. 3 and Nucla Feb. 9. They travel to Norwood Feb. 10 and Telluride Feb. 16 before closing the regular season at home against Dolores Feb. 17.

Dimmick sees a very competitive and very close league race with no team head-and-shoulders above the rest. Defending league and district champ Dolores lost a lot to graduation. He said the league looks to be very evenly matched.

The District Tournament will be in Cortez Feb. 23-24 with Regionals set for either Palisade or Grand Junction High on March 3. The Class 2A State Tournament is set for Pueblo March 8-10 but that site could change.

"I think I will have to be very patient early in the season. Our goal as always will be to be competitive come district play. I think we will make some noise and we will win our share of games. And we hope at the end of the year, we will have a pretty tough team to play," Dimmick added.