GUNNISON—For the Gunnison girls’ basketball team, the road to success this season will not be a smooth one.
The Lady Bulldogs have plenty of talent as senior Raven Pickett and junior Rilee Dyreng make their return as starters. A senior class of Pickett, Gracey Mickelson and Kalie Whitlock will provide the leadership for a team that was extremely young in 2020 and is only slightly older this season.
“We are returning some experience because so many sophomores and juniors saw playing time last year,” Coach Melissa Sorensen said. “Hopefully, that year of experience playing at the varsity level speeds up the process of implementing things.”
Dyreng averaged 10.55 points per game for the Lady Bulldogs last season, the only Sanpete County girls’ basketball player not from Wasatch Academy to average double-figures in scoring.
“Even though Rilee was our leading scorer last year, we hope to have a balanced scoring attack,” Sorensen said. “The more players who get involved and score for us, the harder it is on other teams to focus on one player. We will work at generating the type of shots that we feel like all players can make and be successful.”
Gunnison finished last season 7-14 overall and lost their last six games of the regular season. They won in the first round on the playoffs but fell to North Summit in the second round.
This season, the Lady Bulldogs are getting tested right out of the gate with a trip to Juab last Tuesday. They’ll be on the road for their first four games of the season before their home opener against North Sanpete on Dec. 2.
