Lady Mats hoops heading into season with young, hungry squad

Arizona Western women's basketball will be made up of mostly freshman in head coach Chelsea Dewey's second year leading the program

YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) - Arizona Western women's basketball is gearing up for Thursday’s season opener against Utah State Eastern.

This year’s mats squad will have to quickly get up to speed, with nine freshman and only two returning sophomores.

A group second year head coach Chelsea Dewey is expecting a lot from.

“They’re gonna have to fill big shoes,” Dewey said.

Among the freshmen is someone Yuma hoops fans should be familiar with.

Former Cibola Raider Isabella Ponce will be on the squad, after averaging nearly eight points and five boards during her senior year with the black and gold. 

Ponce says she understands the early expectations, but expects to lean on her leadership to guide her.

"It's a lot, it takes a lot to overcome, but i think being surrounded by all my teammates, and having Dyvine and Rita makes it all easier for everyone, and they're really helpful, great teammates to have," Ponce said.

In addition to sophomore guard Rita Gomes, Molina referred to sophomore Dyvine Harris as well.

Harris one of the returners following her ACCAC freshman of the year honor last season.

“It’s probably not that much different than last year you know, being a freshman, new to the team, but this year...I'll try to help our freshman as much as I can to you know get them into everything,” Harris said.

For this young team to go far, Dewey says it’ll be their shooting that’ll get them there. 

“Right now we’ve been shooting a lot of threes, so more than analytics I would say, it’s more than I would like, but hey they’re going in, we’re shooting about 38 percent as a team right now, so I can’t complain,” Dewey said.

As far as where they want to be at the end of the season, expectations, are high.

“I think we should be in the region one final you know, every year, but it doesn’t always bounce our way you know there’s a lot of things that have to fall into place,” Dewey said.