Lady Trojans strive to reach potential

Though they are starting the season without a deep bench, the Troy High School girls basketball team’s new head coach is looking forward to the potential from his players.

Head Coach Bradley Dunn-meier has 14 on the roster, just enough to field a junior varsity team under coach Jordan Graves.

But Dun-meier said he feels the team has a good core group on the varsity side.

After watching the team scrimmage on family night Friday, he was happy to see how they are adapting, he said.

Dunn-meier said he has been working with the team on a new offense he developed, a blend of flex and three-man passing. “I blended that together and we got some really nice flex.”

“They’re really picking it up fast,” he said. “They have a good basketball sense.”

Dunn-meier was pleased with how the team moved the ball Friday, he said.

“I thought we moved the ball really well. We’re reversing the ball -- if they can do that, we can get some people open on the weak side, we will be getting a lot of nice, easy shots,” he said.

Dunn-meier said he expects it will still take some time for the team to adjust to a new coach.

Dunn-meier and boys Head Coach Justin Young swapped teams between seasons, an adjustment that both agreed suits them.

The majority of Dunn-meier’s experience has been coaching girls teams, he said.

“I’d only coached probably eight seasons of boys before last year,” he said. “I do think I feel more comfortable with girls, just because I started with them, so I think that’s where my expertise lies.”

“I really look forward to seeing what these kids’ potential will be, as far as the league goes,” Dunn-meier said.One thing in the team’s favor is the number of multi-sport athletes, Dunn-meier said.

“I wish we had more, because we have a lot of volleyball girls who could play basketball that don’t,” he said. With volleyball, there are a number of skills that transfer well to basketball.

Dunn-meier said that he has encouraged the girls to play a sport each season, just to improve their athleticism.

Troy doesn’t have a dominant player such as they saw in Allie Coldwell last season, and the team will have to step up collectively, he said. “They can’t rely on one or two people.”

But while he said he is realistic and doesn’t want to give the team false hope, he expects they can be “in the mix” this season.

“We should get in the tournament, even if we ended up in fourth. I’m hoping for second or third. I don’t know if we can get first, but who knows,” he said. “Every game is going to be a tough game, but I think we’ll be in the mix.”