Fall River Girls Basketball Learning On The Fly

The Fall River High School girls basketball team is usually considered the “hunted” in the Trailways West, but this season they may be the “hunter.”   With the graduation of four all-league players from last year’s squad that went 24-2 overall and a perfect 14-0 in the conference, the Pirates will be looking for new faces to step up this season.

Veteran coach Jim Doolittle returns just two players who played a major role on last year’s championship squad. Junior Bella Gregorio who averaged five points per game during her sophomore campaign returns as his only starter while senior Becca Tramburg (3ppg) will shift from being the first player off the bench into the starting lineup.  With not much organized basketball this summer and the team being quarantined at the start of practice, there will be a lot of learning on the fly for the new faces seeing the floor for the varsity the season.

“We are kind of going to be in a rebuilding stage.” Coach Doolittle told DailyDodge.com. “We’ve had several years of success and with quality players. We still have a lot quality players but they are extremely young and inexperienced.  It might take us a little bit to get rolling and with a little help and we don’t get quarantined we should be able to progress into a fairly tough team.”

Fall River is picked 4th in the Trailways West by wissports.net this season.  The Pirates have won seven of their last eight conference championships and qualified for the WIAA State Tournament in 2015, 2016, and 2019 so they know they will get every team’s best shot this year.

“We’ve been the conference champs…and teams that can put a knot on our head are going to do that.” Doolittle said. “This year is their opportunity to do that but as we progress I believe that I can get these kids to a level where we can be competitive with every team.”

The Pirates edged Pardeeville 47-46 on Friday night and will host Princeton/Green Lake on Monday.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE FULL FALL RIVER GIRLS BASKETBALL SCHEDULE

Click the link below to hear a full interview with Fall River girls basketball coach Jim Doolittle.

 

If you have a question about this story or have an idea for a future local sports story, please email Wade Bates at ddsports@goodkarmabrands.com