KINGMAN - It wasn't a picture perfect start for the Kingman High girls basketball team at Thursday's scrimmage in Bullhead City against Mohave. The Bulldogs do hope, however, they've got enough mistakes out of their system for Monday's season opener at 7 p.m. in Lake Havasu City.
"As the coach, I wanted them to look good," KHS' Danny Gonzalez said. "I expected that we wouldn't look sharp, but we did do some good things. We did well at the end. Before the last period we discussed ending hard despite the lackadaisical effort before."
Seniors Dominique Hale, Tesla Morgan and Lindsey Reed poured in at least double digits worth of points each in the non-scoring workout. However, Gonzalez said the Bulldogs must have missed between 20 and 30 layups.
"We did do some things right in that we had them," he said. "The offense did move well."
Gonzalez singled out Hale for playing well, despite dealing with a bout of bronchitis. The coach said the senior post player went hard to the basket, played physical and attacked the T-birds.
"Dominique did the things she should be doing as a senior now," he said. "She utilized her strength."
The Bulldogs limp into the season opener with Morgan, Bianca Sapien and Sara Reed having missed the first week-and-a-half of practice recovering from injuries sustained during the volleyball season. Sara Reed is still a question mark for the Havasu game.
"We haven't been able to scrimmage in practice," Gonzalez said. "We had to pull up some of the younger kids just so we could go 5-on-5. I'm still trying to figure out who will fill what slots."
KHS finished last season ranked No. 6 in the Arizona Interscholastic Association Class 5A-II conference, and the Bulldogs went 2-0 against Havasu by beating the Knights by an average of 23 points.
"The girls want to play," Gonzalez said. "It counts starting Monday, and I'm positive we'll do the things we need to do to be successful. But, we can't take anybody lightly."
