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Blackfoot High School
School Info
Conference: 4A District 5-6 Conference
Classification: 4A
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Head Coach: Dallan Parker
Years as Head Coach: 1st Season
Previous Experience: Assistant coach at Pocatello HS (2011-14)
Record Last Year: 11-13
State Titles: None
Assistant Coaches:
Tim Wilson, Lance Baguley
Who do you have coming back this year?
Holly Gunderson, 6'1 Post
Kelsey Baguley, 5'11 Post
Any “Key Players” that you lost from last year?
Cassandra Clarke, Guard. A hard worker and her aggressiveness will be missed. Second Team All-High Country Conference.
Do you have any new incoming “impact” players?
Deborah Vaichus, 5'7 JR Guard. A strong and athletic transfer from Connecticut.
Anicia Luna, 5'4 JR Guard. A strong defender that obtained a bit of varsity experience last year.
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Team Preview
Written by: Matt Harris
Defense.
If you could point to the one thing that will be the mantra of first-year Blackfoot head coach Dallan Parker, that's it.
"We want to play solid, fundamental defense," Parker said, "Good team defense will be the key to success this year."
Parker enters the job out of Pocatello HS, where he served as an assistant coach in the Lady Indians basketball program. Despite the Lady Broncos lack of success on the hardwood in recent seasons, Parker is upbeat about the prospects of his team.
"The one thing that I am excited about in regards to this year's team is that we are energetic," he said. "I'm excited to watch this team learn and gain together."
Parker doesn't seem to mind having only two seniors on his squad in his inaugural campaign at Blackfoot. Those two seniors, Holly Gunderson and Kelsey Baguley, are expected to be the cornerstone of the Broncos' offense. Parker preaches 'team-first' basketball, which applies to both ends of the court.
On the defensive end, the Broncos have two things that every coach wants: size and quickness.
"Our posts have good size and our guards are pretty quick," Parker said.
The first-year head coach hopes to put the building blocks in place for a program that hasn't been to the state tournament since 2005. He certainly feels the support needed to do so.
"Blackfoot High School has tremendous support from the student body, the staff, and the administration," he said. "The girls are hard-working and excited for basketball to finally begin too."
That hard-work spoken of is one of the keys in reaching the state tournament. And in the competitive 4A District 5-6 conference, featuring perennial powerhouses Century, Pocatello, and Rigby, hard work is a must.
Blackfoot will wait a little bit before tasting their first action against conference opponents. The Lady Broncos open conference play with a Dec. 12 date at The Palace in Pocatello, with a game at The Snake Pit looming four days later at Century HS. Those two crucial games could show how far the Lady Broncos have come in the early stages of the season.
At that point, we should all take a look at Blackfoot's defense, wherein the key to success may lie.
"If we are willing to work hard on defense, great things will happen," Parker said.
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