“Yeah, 11-11 isn’t bad,” Bulldogs coach Todd Cossman said of his team’s mark in 2008-09 compared to a 13-8 season the year before.

With just one senior, Haley Holwick, on this year’s team, MHS had a lot of young players see meaningful minutes.

“We were starting two freshmen about halfway through the year, so we weren’t necessarily the most experienced team on the planet,” Cossman said. “We made some good growth as a team as the season progressed.”

The Bulldogs won three of their last four games to finish at or above .500 for the second year in a row. Their season came to an end in a sub-state semifinal as top-seeded Rock Creek, which finished third in Class 3A, won, 54-22.

“We were playing awfully well at the end of the season, up to that Rock Creek game, but that is a great team so no shame there,” Cossman said. “Things look quite bright for next year.”

No doubt about that. MHS has tasted some sub-state success with a 48-45 opening-round home win against Silver Lake and the team will return six of its top seven players next year, including dynamo guard Missy Rome, who has scored more than 1,000 points in her Bulldog career, as well as Kylie Shufflebarger, Cassidy Bristol and Morgan Drinnon.

“Rome is just an outstanding player, one of the best I’ve ever seen,” Cossman opined, “and Shufflebarger was really coming into her own by the end of the season, she was just huge for us against Silver Lake.”

With that core returning next season, Cossman already is looking forward to it.

“If we can just get a little consistency,” the coach said, “we are going to be a tough out for anyone.”