Championship expectations have become familiar territory for Eastside girls basketball, and the Blazers enter the 2026-27 season with an experienced senior core ready to uphold that standard. Taylor Mack, Lucy Kitchen and Rylan Moughler return as three established starters whose contributions cover scoring, playmaking and rebounding. Their experience gives Eastside a strong starting point as it pursues another season of contention in the Northeast Corner Conference and the postseason.
The Blazers have recent results to support those ambitions. Eastside finished 9-1 in conference play last season, sharing the regular-season championship with Fairfield and Fremont, and defeated Fremont 53-45 to capture the NECC Tournament title. The Blazers followed that success with a 45-38 victory over Central Noble in the Class 2A sectional championship at Lakeland. For this returning group, the challenge is to build on accomplishments it already helped deliver.
Mack figures prominently in that pursuit. The 5-foot-10 senior forward/guard averaged 16.7 points and 5.5 rebounds last season and enters her final campaign just 138 points shy of 1,000 for her career. A first-team All-NECC selection as a junior, Mack gives Eastside a proven offensive centerpiece whose physicality and rebounding adds another valuable dimension. Her production will be especially important as the Blazers work additional players into larger roles around their returning starters.
Kitchen gives Eastside an accomplished floor leader alongside Mack. The 5-foot-4 senior guard averaged 10 points and 6 assists last season, providing both her own scoring and opportunities for teammates. Kitchen also earned first-team All-NECC honors, giving the Blazers two returning players recognized among the conference’s best. Her ability to balance scoring with distributing the basketball should help connect Eastside’s experienced core with its developing supporting cast as one of the area’s best pure passers.
Moughler supplies an equally important piece of that foundation. At 5-foot-11, the senior forward returns after averaging 3.7 points and 5.5 rebounds, matching Mack’s rebounding average. Eastside identifies her work on the boards as one of its primary strengths, and her value extends beyond how often she scores. With Mack and Kitchen accounting for much of the returning offensive production, Moughler’s ability to finish defensive possessions and create additional opportunities will be an important part of the Blazers’ balance.
The common thread among those three seniors is their familiarity with championship basketball. Eastside coach Mike Lortie has emphasized that their leadership and work ethic represent the program’s standards. That experience should prove valuable through the daily demands of a season, particularly as teammates adjust to new responsibilities. The Blazers can lean on players who already understand the preparation and consistency required to compete for titles.
There are meaningful roles to fill following the graduation of Adelaide Elden and Addison Moughler, who earned first-team All-NECC and honorable mention recognition, respectively, last season. Junior guard MacKenzie Dawkins is one returning player positioned to help strengthen the supporting cast. The 5-foot-5 guard averaged 1.6 points last season and brings some varsity experience to a group that will need contributions beyond its senior trio. Developing that additional production will be a central part of Eastside’s progress.
Three juniors moving up from the JV ranks will also have opportunities to contribute. Kayden Dale, a 5-foot-9 forward/guard, and Ava Delgado, a 5-foot-7 forward/guard, give Eastside additional options across those positions, while 5-foot-6 guard Reece Mason adds to the backcourt. Their adjustment to varsity competition will help determine the depth available around the returning starters. Eastside has a proven core; expanding the number of players it can depend on will strengthen its championship pursuit.
“We are here to continue to build on past successes and continue to represent the Eastside Blazer community in a positive and exciting way. Go Green!” says Lortie.
An added perk, Sulli Kessler – who was key in turning Eastside into a perennial contender a few years ago – is back as part of Lortie’s coaching staff.
WHY #7?
The goals remain clear: compete for the NECC regular-season championship, the conference tournament championship and a sectional title. Eastside’s preseason message stresses embracing the process required to reach those outcomes, even with past success establishing high expectations. With Mack approaching a career milestone, Kitchen directing the offense and Moughler anchoring the returning rebounding effort, the Blazers have experienced leaders to guide that process. How effectively the supporting cast develops around them will help shape the next chapter of Eastside’s championship tradition.
That keeps Eastside highly relevant in preseason rankings as this is a program that is starting to join the area elites who look at every year as a reload rather than a rebuild.
CRITICAL GAME – NOVEMBER 13 vs. FREMONT
No rest when you are on top, right? Just three games into the season, the Blazers will host another NECC frontrunner and one team is going to take a loss in the conference pretty quickly, so both will be working to be at the top of their game for this one.
Last season, Eastside got the best of Fremont both times they played – by nearly identical scores – in the regular season and NECC Tournament. Eastside got the win 54-46 in game three of the season in Fremont’s cage then captured the conference tournament title over the Eagles two full months later, 53-45.
This game could determine the NECC and that is no joke. Before most teams are even comfortable in their new seasons, the Blazers are going to face one of their biggest challenge of the year.
CRUCIAL PLAYER
Rylan Moughler gets thrown into a partially unenvious position of having to control the interior – something that has been critical for Eastside to have in recent years – and take some severe offensive pressure off of the Blazers’ two stars.
But she showed plenty of flashes last season that she is ready for a bigger role and able to maintain both the physicality and finesse around the rim that can maker her super difficult to contain at times in the NECC.
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