Wins by girls basketball teams brings smiles to coach, star player returns
Boulder City girls basketball coach Paul Dosch stated throughout the preseason that nothing mattered to him this season, besides locking up home-court advantage this postseason. Following a dominant 57-34 league victory over Southeast Career Technical Academy on Tuesday night, the Lady Eagles coach was all smiles.
"We have a long way to go obviously, but this was a good win for us, a good week for us," Dosch said. "We executed our game plan well and showed a lot of hustle out there. It's really nice to start the season out 2-0, especially with our division shaping up to be better with Desert Pines and Chaparral looking really tough early. Overall I'm proud of how we've opened up league play."
Lending a helping hand in the Lady Eagles' second league win was senior guard Megan Morton, who appeared in her first game of the season Tuesday. Last season's league Player of the Year, Morton looked like she was already in mid-season form against the Roadrunners, scoring a game-high 21 points, with eight rebounds, six assists and two steals. A player capable of creating instant offense for the Lady Eagles, Boulder City's ball movement was key Tuesday night with its star back in the lineup, with multiple defensive schemes set around the playmaker.
"It's always good to get one of your best players back," Dosch said. "I don't think there's anyone more valuable in our league than her. She's a great player, who can create not only for herself but for others. With the pieces of our offense starting to come together and some of the younger girls filling larger roles, we'll go this season as far as she goes."
Also having a breakout performance Tuesday against the Roadrunners was freshman guard Hannah Estes, who continues to impress. Scoring 13 points on the night, Estes provided the Lady Eagles with four 3-pointers in the first half, during a stretch in which multiple starters were forced to sit because of foul trouble.
"It's unfortunate that our starters had to sit down during a key stretch of the game, but Hannah did a great job making up for the loss," Dosch said. "Most of our fouls were petty ones, which is something we need to get under control moving forward. Luckily we were bailed out tonight."
In the backcourt, senior Rylee Dosch added five points against the Roadrunners, while senior Lauren Mullins and junior Alea Lehr chipped in with four apiece. Also scoring four apiece Tuesday were junior and sophomore forwards Julia Worrall and Jerra Hinson, while freshman guard Setia Cox rounded out the effort with two points.
"It's been important for us to get everyone involved within the offense," coach Dosch said. "We can't just rely on one player; the offense has to be constantly moving. We have to get everyone touches early in hopes of creating balance."
Against Del Sol the week prior, the Lady Eagles took care of the Dragons 33-25 on Dec. 10 in their league opener, despite the absence of Morton and Worrall.
Rylee Dosch led the way for the Lady Eagles with a game-high 10 points, while Mullins added six points. Scoring four apiece on the night was the trio of Cox, Estes and Hinson, while Lehr added three points and junior forward Cortney Blumenthal added two points.
"Moving through each game, we're starting to see steadily improvements," coach Dosch concluded, "Even before Megan got back, it was clear that we were starting to gel more as a team. Now the addition of Megan should put us over the top moving forward, where we expect to be highly competitive throughout league play, despite our schedule toughening up in the next few weeks. There's obvious issues to work on, but right now the positives outweigh those."
Advancing to 4-5 for the season, the Lady Eagles will resume league play tonight at Sunrise Mountain, before participating in the Nighthawk Classic over winter break.
Contact Robert Vendettoli at BCRSports@gmail.com.
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Upcoming Games
Today, vs. Sunrise Mountain, 5 p.m., junior varsity; 6:30 p.m. varsity
