The local college basketball seasons gets underway this weekend as the Lower Columbia men's team is at home against Bellevue and the LCC women's team travels to Eugene for a tournament at Lane Community College.
 
Mickey Polis begins his third season as the head coach of the Red Devils and he has assembled a deep and talented roster, led by sophomore Samaad Hector who averaged 14 points and 9 rebounds last season. Martis Johnson is also a top returner who scored 11 points and 4.5 boards last year. 
 
Other top returners are Louden Wardius, Travis Patrick, Cody Young and Daemon Dillingham. 
 
Polis welcomes a talented freshman class featuring locals Rarey Sommer, Jacob Thompson, Caymon Rea and Dawson Fritz.  Jonah Crumpton-Murray, Juwan Couey, Taylor Pomeroy and Solomon Campbell have an opportunity to play a lot.  Sophomore transfers Alexis Angeles and Amiri Chukwuemeka will also have big impact. 
 
The LCC men will open at home this Saturday at 1 pm against the Bellevue Bulldogs. You can watch the game live on Devil Vision.
 
On the women's side, Lucas Myers begins his second season at the helm of the LCC women's team. He has also put together a deep talented squad led by returners Madison Mosier, Madeline Jacobson, and Melenaite Kata. Cherita Daugherty also returns after a year away as she was granted an extra year of eligibility by the NCAA. 
 
The freshman guard corps is talented with Michaela Harris, Tommia Pakootas, Josie Schmitz, Chinedu Nnadi, Kelso's Ally Harman and Asia Castillo. 
 
The freshman forwards and posts are also quite good with Bailey Farrer, Danica Schmidt, Jodi Noyes, and Kelso's Kylee Gibbs.  Last year's top recruit Bobbi Mott is also making her return after ACL surgery from early in the season. 
 
The LCC women's team will take on Blue Mountain at 4:00 pm Friday afternoon in Eugene.  The Devils play Columbia Basin at 4 pm Saturday and host Lane Sunday at 2 pm.