GIRLS BASKETBALL PREVIEW: Young Bloomfield team seeks continued growth
BLOOMFIELD — Bloomfield girls basketball coach Louis Bell hopes for continued growth in his team’s fourth season of existence.
Bloomfield's growth has been slow but steady. The Wildcats won a program-best five games last season but lost three seniors from that squad: Tyrah Hartle, Michaela Tidwell and Lilly Warrick.
Seniors Johnna Costigan, Madison Cox, Savanna Spicer and Jenna Yates and junior Ashton Bell are back.
“Jenna Yates and Savanna Spicer played quite a bit,” Coach Bell said. “(Costigan and Cox) came off the bench but they all got to see minutes. (Ashton), a junior, played a lot for us.”
The Wildcats' roster features a pair of senior newcomers Adison Musgrave and exchange student Khalivjii Battsengel.
“We’ve got one girl (Musgrave) who’ll really help us,” Coach Bell said. “She played basketball growing up. She’ll immediately help us. She’ll provide experience and another ball handler.”
Musgrave played for Kelly last season. She helped the Hawks go 17-12 and finish second in their district tournament.
Musgrave moved into the Bloomfield district during the previous school year and played softball for the Wildcats, helping them post their first winning season in at least seven years.
Bloomfield has no sophomores and only one freshman, Natalie Sills.
Coach Bell said that having only eight players on the team’s roster is a concern.
“It’s actually a concern for next season even more because most of the ones playing this year have been a part of the program for the last three years,” he said. “We’re just not getting any new ones coming up and playing right now.”
Coach Bell hopes the Wildcats (5-13 last season) will finish the season strong after ending the last year on an eight-game losing streak.
“We’re starting our fourth year now,” he said. “The improvement’s been steady, not near as quick as we’d hoped for. … Up through January, we were playing pretty well then we didn’t finish the year very strong.”
Offense has been a struggle for the Wildcats since the program’s inception.
“We’ve gotten better each year, but it’s been a struggle from the start,” Coach Bell said. “I really think we’ve got some options that it will be easier for us to score than it was last year for us. .. If we can handle the basketball this year, I think we’ll have better opportunities.”
Ashton Bell and Spicer will be the Wildcats’ primary ball handlers.
“We don’t really have a true point guard who can get us set up in an offense and things like that,” Coach Bell said. “That would be a big plus for us. Those two will work at it and they’ll get the job done, we hope.”
Coach Bell expects improvement on defense.
“Our base knowledge is better,” he said. “That allows us to do a couple more things defensively. We’ve done a decent job the last three years defensively. If we could put the ball in the basket, it’s amazing how much easier it is to play defense. I think defensively, we’ll still be able to hold our own. We just have to once we get the ball back, go down and figure out a way to run some offense and put it in the basket.”