Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Lady Tigers hoping transition to new coach is a smooth one

LLHS girls have tough pre-district schedule

John Gale News-Bulletin Staff Writer; jgale@news-bulletin.com

Los Lunas Going into the 2008-09 season, the Los Lunas girls basketball team is in transition, with a new coach in Shane Bell, who had been an assistant coach with the Lady Tigers since 2002.

After three-year head coach Bryan Smith resigned in late June to spend more time with his family, Bell was hired in late July.

"I'm very excited," Bell said. "I've worked a long time to get to this point. I've worked from junior high on up. I plan on really being very disciplined with myself and with the kids. We want to run a real sharp program and do the right things — the little things."

Bell said he plans on running a lot of set plays offensively. But he also wants his team to be adaptable to the situation, which means he will mix in some zone, man-to-man and full court presses on defense.

The Tigers open the season on Monday, Nov. 24, against crosstown rival Valencia at about 7 p.m. It will also be the first-ever varsity game for the Lady Jaguars.

The Tigers have made a trip to the state playoffs in each of Bell's six years assisting the team, the first three under Ron Geyer, but they have lost in the first round each time, and they have not won their district tournament in any of those years.

Despite the lack of recent playoff success, Los Lunas did a lot of winning during Bell's time as an assistant, as Geyer and Smith led the team to a combined 101-69 record overall and a 35-15 record in district play.

Last season, the Tigers went 13-17 to finish with a losing record for the first time since 2001, though the team made a late charge in the district tournament and eventually lost the 5-5A championship game at Eldorado.

The Tigers graduated several players from last year's team, including first-team all-district post player Kameo Peña and second-team all-district forward Candice Guthrie.

In order to improve on last season, Bell said he thinks his team just needs some tweaking.

"The athleticism is there," Bell said. "We just have to make better decisions with shot selection and cut down on turnovers. We have to work harder. We have to play smarter as well. We have to work on creating fouls and getting to the free throw line."

The leadership will come from returning seniors Olivia Carrasco, Brook Serrano and Nicholette Pohl, and BreAna Gallegos.

Serrano was named to the all-district second team last season.Carrasco will be shifting to the post from her guard position she played in the past.

Serrano, Carrasco and Gallegos were all key players on the highly successful Los Lunas girls soccer team. The returning juniors are post players Korriah Peña and Priscilla Griego and guard Danae Roy. Peña and Griego played volleyball in the fall.

Senior post player Amber Fralick, sophomore guard Mariah Maez, senior guard Marissa Martinez and junior post player Marisol Sanchez could contribute as well. Sophomore guard Jackie Candelaria, who was the goalkeeper for the successful girls soccer team in the fall, might be the team's starting point guard.

"I think our defense will be one of our strengths, as well as our experience," Bell said. "And we have some shooters that can get hot."

The pre-district schedule will not be easy for the Tigers, as they will face defending 5A state champion La Cueva, plus 5A powers Cibola, Gallup, and Valley.

"We have one of the toughest schedules out there," Bell said. "You want to play your best basketball by district, but you have to play good teams to be able to do that."

When district play begins in mid-January, things won't get much easier, as Eldorado was the No. 2 seed in the playoffs last season and advanced to the championship game, while Rio Grande and Highland also made the playoffs.

The Lady Hornets lost star player Deeva Vaughn to graudation. Vaughn signed a letter of intent with the University of Houston.

"Eldorado is going to be the team to beat, not only in our district, but also in the state," Bell said. "They shoot well; size, athleticism, they have the whole package. Manzano is a very physical team. Rio Grande has some really quick guards."

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