MORENCI — The Morenci girls varsity basketball team enters the 2025-26 season in the midst of the program’s most successful run, having three-peated as league champs and won back-to-back district and regional championships.
“We want to defend our league title and try to go unscathed in the conference,” head coach Ashley Joughin said of the team’s goals. “Obviously, the senior girls are looking at another shot to make a deep run in March and hopefully get the opportunity to play at the Breslin Center.”
The Lady Bulldogs are returning four starters from last year’s squad, but the one absent will be sorely missed. Alyssa Gibbs was a four-year starter who also earned All-League honors each of those years.
“She played a big role for us inside, grabbing rebounds and consistently scoring,” Joughin said of her lone graduated senior from last year. “She was a leader on the floor.”
Senior Emersyn Bachelder will again be a key leader on the team. Bachelder averaged 15 points per game last year and Joughin will look to her to continue being a big contributor on the offensive end.
“She’s handsy and anticipates well and can usually sneak in and intercept lazy passes,” Joughin said of her scorer’s defensive aptitude.
Senior Evelyn Joughin will continue to be the floor general for the Morenci offense. “She’s got great court vision and returns as the county leader in assists last season,” the coach said.
“Addyson Valentine returns as arguably the toughest defender in our league,” Joughin said of her senior guard. “She can handle the challenge of defending guards or posts and consistently holds players to under-average performances.” Both Valentine and Joughin will be asked to pick up their scoring a little more this season.
Junior Colbie Ekins is the fourth returning starter and is a dominant force in the paint for the Bulldogs.
“She will have a bulk of our inside responsibilities this season, both on the boards and scoring,” Joughin said. “She’s usually much quicker than the girls she’s going up against which plays to her advantage.”
Senior Lauryn Dominique returns and will move into the fifth starting spot. “She works hard on the defensive end and is a great rebounder,” Joughin said. “She’s good at the rim when given the opportunity to score on offensive putbacks or if her defender slips into helpside.”
Senior Katelyn Ruse will give valuable minutes off the bench and has the ability to play in the post or on the perimeter.
Juniors Hailey Cleveland, Aly Curtis, and Tessa Zuvers are up from last year’s JV team and all have the ability to add value on both ends of the court.
The goals and expectations of this team are lofty, but entering her fifth season as the head coach, Joughin knows there is a lot of time between now and March.
“I’ve been pleased with the effort so far, but there are always things you notice that you need to tighten up on and work through that aren’t going to be fixed in the first week of practice,” she said. “We need to just take it one game at a time and be playing our best basketball at the end of the season.”
The Lady Bulldogs will host all four of their December contests, starting with Concord on Dec. 8. Their league title defense begins Dec. 11 when Whiteford comes to town.