ST. IGNATIUS - Two key pieces are returning for the Lady Bulldogs this year that hopefully mean good things.

With a lot of youth on the team, head coach Les Rice is waiting for the results to manifest themselves this season.

"It will be awhile before we can tell what kind of team we'll be," Rice said.

Senior Kyla Mitchell is a four-year letter winner and will be a focal point for the Bulldogs. Along with her, the talented junior Ashley Courville will be all over the court.

"She'll be a multi-position player," Rice said of Courville.

They'll look to build on last year's performance where the Lady Bulldogs made it to the Western B divisional tournament before being knocked out of postseason play.

"I thought we were playing our best basketball at the end of the year," Mission head coach Les Rice said.

The cornerstone for Mission will be defense, and there's no way around it.

"We are a pretty good defensive team," Rice said. "We don't give up a lot of points."

What the Lady Bulldogs will need is an offense to compliment the rock-hard defense. Rice said that his team will have a patient offense with a good mix of guards and posts. He will be relying on a lot of his younger players to step up into those spots.

"We're going to have some sophomores playing some key roles," Rice said.

It may end like last year with the Lady Bulldogs playing their best ball near the end of the season. They'll need to battle in a conference that has plenty of talent.

"Bigfork is the team to beat," Rice said "The rest of

the league should be knockdown and drag-out games."