Ladies ready to start their season

Sonja Karp
NLJ Sports Reporter
  
After some early preseason uncertainty, the Lady Dogies Basketball team has settled in and the squad is focused on getting their 2018-2019 season underway.
Former assistant coach Chad Ostenson has moved into the head coach position after the recent resignation of Tyler Bartlett, while Coleton Willard has filled the vacancy left by Ostenson.
Numbers were a little worrisome early on with only 10 girls expressing interest. However, by the time practice began 19 girls had laced up their kicks.
“The girls are working hard and are being very coachable,” Ostenson nodded. “They try to take all the information in and get things done. We’ve worked on a lot, and it’s been good, and I’ve been happy with the effort we’re seeing.
The Lady Dogies are adjusting to not only the leadership change, but also to the loss of some key players from last year’s squad. 
Though only Sarah Henkle was lost to graduation, starting point guard Lauren Lacey and the sixth “man” Carson Quigley each moved away over the course of the summer, while Madi Pearson is recovering from an injury that will have her sidelined all season.
The team is returning seniors Lexus Voelker, Makenzie Wagoner, Kaylee Sweet and Lauren Steveson and they are joined by juniors Grace Coy, Sara Sweet and Avery Alicehouse. Sophomores Mercedes Voelker, Claire Beastrom, Isabel Frank and Becky Lorenzen will also be wearing the uniform, as well as freshmen Shawnee Miles, Rachel Sweet, Summer Bonnar, Taylee Dickinson, Bailey Benshoof, Jonnaye Rosenau, Nicole Weeg and Calla Butler.
While nearly half of the squad are freshmen, the Lady Dogies will not be playing at that level this season due to the shortage of players in the upper grades. Rather, the team will fill junior varsity and varsity rosters only.
“We will be putting together a mixed team for the JV squad this year, and are working on getting the freshmen up to speed given it’s a pretty big jump to go from middle school to junior varsity ball in the 3A conference,” Ostenson admitted. “But, they’re doing really well so far and it’s also really helpful to have Cami Willyard [former high school assistant coach] coaching them at the middle school and running our offensive sets, so they come to us with the basic principles.”
To help with the transition, Ostenson also scheduled the freshmen to go in the morning for the first eight days of practice. By doing so, the newcomers were able to learn the drills at a speed that was comfortable for them, rather than at the older players’ speed. When the youngsters joined the rest of the team, they were able to hop right into the drills with the knowledge and skill set necessary to keep practice moving along seamlessly. 
The Lady Dogies made their preseason debut last Saturday at the annual Meet the Dogies night, so fans got a sneak peek at the squad. Going into the scrimmage, Ostenson was pleased at the progress the team was making, but admitted there was still work to be done.
“I’m really pretty pleased with where the girls are at and how things are going,” he declared. “We definitely have a lot of things we need to work on, but it’s early. We will have what we need by the first game, and hopefully have everything in by Regionals.”
According to Ostenson, fans can expect to see the same man-to-man principles from previous years, but the Lady Dogies will probably be playing a little more zone on defense. Offensively, the squad will continue the same system. However, the coach plans to incorporate a few more set plays so that if the team needs to score, they will have something in their wheelhouse in order to make that happen. 
“We will also be running as much as we can, because we don’t have size,” Ostenson stated. “We’ve really been talking about pushing the ball between the three point lines and then if we have the numbers, go to the rack, but if we don’t, we’ll set up the play.”
The Lady Dogies get their season underway this Friday as they host the Lady Wildcats of Custer with tip-off scheduled for 5:45 p.m.