The Dexter Tigers lost four players from their regional championship team, including leading scorer and rebounder Megan Peach. Despite the key losses from the program, there is still plenty of optimism for the Tigers.
“We have a young team, so we have a lot of work to do,”junior guard Kaylee Deering said. “I feel like we will have a pretty good season.”
Peyton Grant and Avery Herrick highlight a freshmen group that includes Cheyenne Beem and Abby Wakefield.
“We have two freshmen that are as good of freshmen that we have had come through this program. Peyton Grant and Avery Herrick. We will see how they factor in,”Tigers coach Jody Grant said. “There is no guarantee on who is going to play and who is not. Things will evolve over time. There could be some surprises here as well.”
Junior forward Danielle Cummings added, “they (freshmen) are stepping up a lot better than I thought they would. They fit right in with us.”
On offense the Tigers will be more of a guard focused team. Coach Grant expects the success of the team to be determined by the defense, just like in years past.
“It is going to be an adjustment. Part of it took place in the summer time. We are going to be a little bit more guard oriented,”coach Grant said. “We want to hang our hat on our defense. It is going to take this group some time to get there. It takes hours and hours of work to get to the level that teams did here in the past. Are these kids up to the challenge? We will find out.”
Cummings added, “we are going to have to step it up and be more of a running team. We have a lot of guards and a lot of fresh faces. We are going to have to work really hard and hopefully be as good as we were last year.”
Becca Batron and Kaitlyn Webber will be the senior leaders. Both played key minutes during the 2017 tourney run. Cummings, Deering, and Addyson Herrick will have increased roles.
The following players are also on the Tigers roster- Tory Asbury (junior), Abigail Paige (junior), and sophomore Cloe Mountain. Eastern Maine Sports picked the Tigers fifth in class C North. Click here for the full predictions. Dexter opens the regular season at Bangor Christian. They will also play at Penquis, before the home opener against Schenck on December 14th. Eastern Maine Sports is broadcasting the Tigers game at Central on December 18th and when they host Stearns on December 29th.
