PICTURED IS the 2020-21 Bridgeport Bulldogs girls basketball team. Front row, from left, are Hallee Lewis, Riley Bell, Bailey Dyson and Hailee Aubrey. Back row, from left, are Hayley Conaway, Alexis Clemens, Ashlynn Allen, Brooke Stewart, Kaylee Bain and Erica Marling. Absent: Markiee McCormick, Aubrey Summers and Korynne Canter.

BRIDGEPORT — The calendar year 2020 has become the year of the unexpected. The same can be said about the Bridgeport girls 2020-21 basketball season.

Head coach Greg Harkness knew he was losing leading scorer Jaren Tucker to graduation, along with role players Kayleigh Roberts, Jessa Stockwell and Maura Tiber. Foreign-exchange students Barbara Pavicic-Perez and Laura Alonso de Lima also picked up diplomas.

Tucker averaged nearly 20 points a contest last season while earning first team all-OVAC Class 2A and all-District 12 honors.

However, what he didn’t know nor foresee was senior Meleah Tiber not returning. She was the team’s second leading scorer at 8.8 but opted to graduate early and enlist in the United States Coast Guard.

“We knew we were losing four seniors, but obviously losing Meleah was a surprise,” Harkness admitted. “She was going to be our lone returning starter and senior.

“We were looking to her as our leader but she made a decision to get on with her life’s work and we totally support her in that choice.”

Another setback came after a scrimmage in Harrison County where several team members and the members of the coaching staff were exposed to COVID.

“I think we have only had a handful of practices with our full roster. We had one starter down with an ankle injury and another one was out due to contact tracing,” he explained.

“Then, unfortunately, the entire team was shut down due to contact tracing. We are so inexperienced that we could’ve used the a normal summer with summer leagues and shootouts to help us gain experience.

“It’s going to be a challenging year but we’ve talked about this being a two-year process,” he continued.

“We have no seniors so everyone is just trying to get better. We just want to be able to get back to some sort of normal and get in the gym each day and work to get better.”

The 14-player roster is evenly balanced as far as grades in school go. The Bulldogs have five juniors, a like number of sophomores and four frosh.

The junior class is led by returning letterwinners Riley Bell (5-10), Bailey Dyson (5-9) and Hailee Aubrey (5-4), along with Hallee Lewis (5-6) and Hayley Conaway (5-5).

“Riley gives us a true post presence on both ends of the court,” Harkness said.

“She got her feet wet as a sophomore by giving us some good minutes inside. We need her to show improvement throughout the season.

Bailey missed her freshman season with an injury but split time last year between varsity and JV,” the coach noted.

“She can shoot the ball and has some skill. We expect her to get better with experience.

“Hailee also missed some time as a freshman with an injury,” Harkness recalled. “She got some varsity experience as a sophomore and we need her to step into a bigger role this season. She had leadership qualities and is a good defender.

Hallee is a physical player, a hard-worker and has a good attitude,” Harkness added. “She is going to get a lot of varsity minutes this year and we need her to keep improving as we go.

“Hayley is a great kid. She has a tremendous work ethic and will do anything the coaches ask. We are counting on her to be a leader for the JV team and possibly work herself into a varsity role.”

Sophomores include Kaylee Bain (5-5), Emmi Felton (5-6), Korynne Canter (5-5), Alexis Clemens (5-6) and Ashlynn Allen (5-9).

Freshmen Aubrey Summers (5-3), Markiee McCormick (5-3), Brooke Stewart (5-5) and Eric Marling (5-9) complete the roster.

Harkness is assisted at the varsity level by Brittany Hicks.