New-look Trojans have good summer program

After the graduation of nine seniors and probably the top-seven players on the depth chart, Oak Ridge's varsity girls' basketball team will look much different next season. Starting on the bench, where the new head coach, Briana Dulgar, will be sitting in the first chair, with long-time head coach Steve White sitting next to her assisting her. Dulgar had 26 players out for summer basketball, including two seniors who played on the varsity team a year ago, Siena Maher and Brynn Burke, and two other seniors who didn't play last year, Sheanna Peralta and Kendyl Collie. Of the 26 players, about 10 played on the varsity team, which left the other 16 on the junior varsity team. Dulgar had three juniors, 11 sophomores and eight freshmen playing this summer. "I was happy with the numbers we had out," Dulgar said. "I wasn't too sure what the freshman class would look like, but I think the girls have good skills to start with. As far as the returning players, we wanted to build more chemistry and get them experience playing at the varsity level. It was good for them to keep building chemistry with each other." The goals for the summer program were to get some good conditioning in and to also build team chemistry. "Commitment was the big goal," Dulgar said. "We always want our girls to prioritize June summer basketball. You get the best out of a team when everyone shows up. That starts the process of getting the girls to work together and having last year's varsity and junior varsity teams building a bond on and off the court." The team had a busy month, as they played in tournaments in Roseville, Stockton and at Oregon State University. The team played around 23 games and though Dulgar didn't know the team's exact win-loss record, she said the team won more games than they lost. Among the positives of the summer program was the speed and athleticism that her players showed. "We have more speed with this group coming up and we had them working together with their athleticism," Dulgar said. "We were able to put more pressure on teams and sometimes even take gambles in making reads and create a chaotic defense in a sense because of our team speed." One thing that Dulgar, even as a first-year varsity coach, didn't have to talk with her team about was playing hard. That's been ingrained in the culture of the Oak Ridge program for years. "The girls worked really hard," Dulgar said. "I didn't have to ask them to do that; it's part of the culture. The players are respectful and coachable girls. They take feedback and improved. They were also receptive to each other." This is the first time that the team is playing together, so naturally there are tons of things that need more work. "We need to work on our discipline as far as our defensive reads go and we also need to work on running a cohesive offense," Dulgar said. "Also our end-of-game situations need work. With more experience, the girls can understand time and situations and possessions. We made some end-of-game mental mistakes that affected us. We also need some leaders to step up to provide motivation and encouragement; some go-get 'em players." All-in-all, it was a good month of June for the group. "Yes, I think we had a good start," Dulgar said. "As a coach, I'm never satisfied. There were definite highs and lows with attendance. We're trying to build chemistry. As far as getting the season started, we definitely have a foundation that we can build on. I'm content with our starting point."