Just because The Dalles girls’ basketball team is playing without all-state athlete Emily Bailey is no reason to believe the talent across the program isn’t just as formidable this year.
The Riverhawks, under the coaching of Dan Telles and assistant Craig Compton, have returning guards Kailin Hoylman, Morgan Goslin and Iliana Telles.
Down in the paint, Olivia Starks, Lori Cimmiyotti, Brooke McCall and Katie Conklin are a solid core that helped the team win 18 games and finish second in the Columbia River Conference last season.
New to the team are guards Jodi Thomasian, Ivorie Taylor and Jez Farrell, to go with junior post Jennifer Bonham.
In all, there are six underclassmen, two juniors and two seniors ready to contribute.
Compton said that he and Telles look forward to the challenge of keeping TD at the top of the 5A class in the first year without their points, rebounds, steals and blocks leader, who graduated last spring.
“Each girl needs to step up and do a little more. They need to understand what their job is to help the team be successful,” Compton said. “We are going to have to work our way through the season and grow and hopefully some good things will happen with this group.”
With six players at 5-8 or shorter, the Riverhawks have the speed to use their pressure defense to put the opposition on their heels.
Added to that, Bonham, McCall, Conklin, Cimmiyotti and Starks bring size to the middle of the paint.
Last year, the TD defense went a perfect 10-0 when opponents scored less than 33 points.
In Tuesday’s game at Putnam, a 48-44 loss, TD (0-2 overall) was able to use its trapping defense to score 20 points in the fourth quarter to get back in contention.
“We’ve got to go back to practice and work on trapping better and not allowing the other team to get out of our traps,” Compton said. “We created havoc and the girls played hard. We’ve just got to work on technique, just fundamentals on our trapping.”
Last season, The Dalles averaged 50.8 points a game and went 10-1 when scoring 55 or more points.
The big question is can TD make up the 14.1 points a game Bailey dropped on a nightly basis.
Starks (6-foot-2 inches) will be used more for low post scoring, as the TD staff is hoping to get at least 15 points and 10 boards a game from the all-league post.
Having that inside threat will open up the mid-range and 3-point shooting game.
“If we can just improve a little on our 3-point shooting when we are open and also get Starks the ball where she can be successful on the block, I think we will find a way to win some games,” Compton said.
With the likes of CRC opponents Hermiston, Pendleton and Hood River getting ready for league play, every program is improving daily.
Hermiston is most likely the favorites, with Pendleton, TD and HRV fighting for the final two spots.
“I see us playing well and I am hoping that we can finish in second place. If not second, then we are going to work our tails off to get third,” Compton said. “It is not that we are conceding to Hermiston, but they historically have been able to win league without much resistance from the rest of us.”
TD is at the two-day Reynolds Hoops Tournament this weekend starting at 3 p.m. today.
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