Injuries figured prominently for the Lexington girls’ basketball team last season.

Three players suffered season-ending knee injuries — two before the season started — and the Lady ‘Dawgs limped their way to nine wins.

“It was a rough one, but they fought,” head coach Jacobi Couch told The Purcell Register.

One of those players, senior point guard Hadley Wilkins, is back, along with fellow senior Lexi Torres.

Wilkins and Torres will provide leadership for a team with nine freshmen and four sophomores on the roster.

Wilkins is working her way back from injury and starting to find her rhythm, according to Couch.

She is the team’s floor general and prioritizes passing to open teammates over shooting.

“She’s one of those true point guards,” he said. “When you think of the old-school point guards, that’s who she is.”

Torres, who can play the point guard and shooting guard positions, is a dynamic player, Couch said.

“She’s as athletic as all get out,” he said. “She plays extremely hard and finds ways to score, and she just does a lot of everything for our team.”

Class 3A Lexington will tip off the 2025-26 season with road games against Dickson on Tuesday, Dibble on Friday and Cache on Saturday. The Lady ‘Dawgs play their first home game at 6:30 on Dec. 8 against Stratford.

Marleigh Givens, a 5’ 11” post player who, like Wilkins, tore her ACL in the summer of 2024, also returns for Lexington.

Couch called Givens “a matchup nightmare” for opposing teams.

“She’s just one of those all-around players,” he said. “She can stretch the floor, she can shoot the three, she can take you off the dribble, she can post you up.

“Once she gets the feel of things I believe, and I may be a little biased behind it, I believe she can be one of the best post girls around this area and maybe even in our class.”

Another returnee, sophomore Dulce Rodriguez, is a 5’ 2” guard who started as a freshman and brings a lot of energy to the Lexington attack, Couch said.

“We call her the gnat because she is just everywhere,” he said. “She is probably our best rebounder and defender. She just has the ability to read a rebound and go get it.

“She is super scrappy and probably our best defender.”

Freshman Blayke Givens is expected to step into the other starting spot for Lexington.

Marleigh Givens’ younger sister “does everything,” according to her coach.

“She can play (any position),” Couch said. Right now, she’s probably about 5’ 7”, 5’ 8”, but she’s strong, she’s physical. She can guard a point guard; she can guard a post girl.

“She gets downhill and to the rim, and she’s a load when she’s going to the rim. Like not many people want to step in front of her.”

Others expected to contribute this season for the Lady Bulldogs include sophomore Emma Tunpaugh and freshmen Charlie Ross and sisters Cylia and Sophie Carrington.

Couch said he expects his team to make a “really deep playoff run.”

“I think this can be one of our better teams to come out of Lexington,” he said. “We’re young, though. We’re young in the sense of varsity experience, but I think that once we figure it out, we can be really really good and have a real chance at a state berth.”