Knocking down walls by tying or setting new records throughout the regular season, the Dodge City High School girls’ basketball team has another obstacle to clear on Wednesday.
The Red Demons (19-3), the No. 4 seed in this week’s Class 6A state tournament at White Auditorium in Emporia, have never won a first-round game at state.
There’s no time than the present to wipe away that one-and-done status.
Dodge City takes on Shawnee Mission East (19-3) at 4:45 p.m. on Wednesday.
“Our biggest concern is a good Shawnee Mission East team,” Justin Briggs said. “We can’t be satisfied with just getting there.
“Dodge City has been there a total of eight times over the years, and this is our third time in fourth years and we’re not satisfied.
Far from it.
“We want to get past that first round,” Justin Briggs said. “Nobody’s ever made it past that first round, and this is a group of girls that all season long, they’ve been able to break some records.”
Besides establishing a DCHS girls school record for single-season wins (19), the Demons also became only the second team in their history to go undefeated in eight games in the Western Athletic Conference this season. They won the conference crown outright, and now it’s time to take the next step in the postseason.
“We have good players, not only our seniors, but some of our younger girls were also there two years ago,” said Justin Briggs, referring to senior guard Valerie Ortiz, the team’s leading scorer (15.0 scoring average), and junior forward A’zlynn Thompson, who is averaging 8.5 points and a team-leading 8.4 rebounds.
“We have a little bit of experience, I guess, which is going to help us,” Justin Briggs said.
Sophomore Brenna Briggs, the daughter of the coach, leads the team with 41 3-pointers and ranks second on the team in scoring with a 9.9 average.
“These girls are very capable of getting past that first round and hopefully, we can come out and play like we’re capable of playing and make it past that first round,” Justin Briggs said. “Probably the greatest thing about this is the fact that our boys team is going to be there, too.
“That’s going to help us. Obviously, we’re not going to have a big fan base for us Wednesday, but if we can get past that Wednesday game, knowing that we’re going to play Friday and the boys are playing Thursday (against Blue Valley Northwest), I think that would be a big help in getting more people up there to support Dodge City.”
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Knocking down walls by tying or setting new records throughout the regular season, the Dodge City High School girls’ basketball team has another obstacle to clear on Wednesday.
The Red Demons (19-3), the No. 4 seed in this week’s Class 6A state tournament at White Auditorium in Emporia, have never won a first-round game at state.
There’s no time than the present to wipe away that one-and-done status.
Dodge City takes on Shawnee Mission East (19-3) at 4:45 p.m. on Wednesday.
“Our biggest concern is a good Shawnee Mission East team,” Justin Briggs said. “We can’t be satisfied with just getting there.
“Dodge City has been there a total of eight times over the years, and this is our third time in fourth years and we’re not satisfied.
Far from it.
“We want to get past that first round,” Justin Briggs said. “Nobody’s ever made it past that first round, and this is a group of girls that all season long, they’ve been able to break some records.”
Besides establishing a DCHS girls school record for single-season wins (19), the Demons also became only the second team in their history to go undefeated in eight games in the Western Athletic Conference this season. They won the conference crown outright, and now it’s time to take the next step in the postseason.
“We have good players, not only our seniors, but some of our younger girls were also there two years ago,” said Justin Briggs, referring to senior guard Valerie Ortiz, the team’s leading scorer (15.0 scoring average), and junior forward A’zlynn Thompson, who is averaging 8.5 points and a team-leading 8.4 rebounds.
“We have a little bit of experience, I guess, which is going to help us,” Justin Briggs said.
Sophomore Brenna Briggs, the daughter of the coach, leads the team with 41 3-pointers and ranks second on the team in scoring with a 9.9 average.
“These girls are very capable of getting past that first round and hopefully, we can come out and play like we’re capable of playing and make it past that first round,” Justin Briggs said. “Probably the greatest thing about this is the fact that our boys team is going to be there, too.
“That’s going to help us. Obviously, we’re not going to have a big fan base for us Wednesday, but if we can get past that Wednesday game, knowing that we’re going to play Friday and the boys are playing Thursday (against Blue Valley Northwest), I think that would be a big help in getting more people up there to support Dodge City.”
