Girls’ basketball kicks off this week again for the new season. Coming off a 24-5 campaign  that included a conference championship and a regional final appearance, the Bulldogs have reloaded with youth and are looking to build on last year’s success. Losing Hannah Claywell and Brittney JnoBaptiste , the two of the leading scorers from last season, the lady Bulldogs hope youth will pick up where experience left off.

“We will have to work even harder to win each game because our key players from last year graduated,” senior Caroline Waas said.

The Bulldogs will feature three freshmen this year:  Samantha Bloom, Lindsay Hoyd, and 6’5 center Dana Rettke. The Dogs’ feature player looks to be Junior co-captain Janae Dabney who averaged 10.7 points as a sophomore. Other returning players include the other two captains Caroline Waas and Miranda Chavez.

“We have an interesting mix of players that I think will end up being one of our strengths,” Waas said.

Despite the youth of this year’s team the dogs still have high aspirations for this season.

“We hope to win one of the holiday tournaments we host again this year, but more importantly we want to win conference and beat Glenbard South,” Waas said.

On Monday the Dogs opened up with Addison Trail and earned their first win of the year, winning 52-25.  Dabney led the team with 12 points, and freshman point guard Bloom had nine points in her first varsity game. All 15 players contributed to the win.

The Bulldogs will be busy next week, playing five games in six days as part of the Bill VandeMerkt Thanksgiving Tournament. The Bulldogs won the tournament last year and hope to have similar success again this time around.