LAVACA — Breanna Dorsey can be the sweetest girl off the basketball court you'll ever meet.
But on the basketball court? Not a chance.
Toughness seems to give the 5-foot-3 Lavaca guard an edge some players take for granted.
"She's friends with everybody, and sometimes I remind her she doesn't have any friends when she steps on the court," Lavaca coach Justin Wyles said. "Sometimes she plays too hard, too, and that leads to injuries.
"But with Bree, there's just one speed."
There are no easy days in Breanna Dorsey's life.
"I'm only 5-3, and there are different things you have to learn," Dorsey said. "You can't go through them at 6-feet tall, so I had to learn to shoot my layups differently. I had to work out a lot, too, and get stronger, so I could get past those girls when I was fighting for a loose ball.
"You have to work a lot harder."
Lavaca (16-4) will host Union Christian today as part of a season that, in Dorsey's own words, just seems to be getting better.
The Golden Arrows are within an earshot of 20 wins in a season for the first time in two decades.
"We're really connecting well together," Dorsey said. "We're working hard together, and I guess you could say we're connecting together again outside of school. I think it's helping with the chemistry.
"We're all wanting the same thing."
As January heads for the stretch run, Dorsey is already gearing up for the next phase of her life. Her athletic life, that is.
"It's going to be very hard to handle," she said. "I've done this since I was little; I've done this in the summer — that's my summer. Basketball is my life. I'm going to have to learn to do something else.
"It's really sad."
Dorsey's "all in" attitude resonates from one sport to the next. That, she believes, might explain her injury-plagued senior season.
Last fall, it was feared Dorsey had done damage to her kneecap. She missed five weeks of volleyball because of it.
"They (trainers) thought I had fractured my kneecap," Dorsey said. "I was out for a month and a half and didn't come back until the district tournament."
Then, just as she was fine-tuning her 3-point shooting skills, Dorsey rolled her ankle in early December.
Reluctant to slow down, she staggered on. Until, when the pain was too unbearable — and afraid of further damage — Wyles forced her to miss three games.
It was brutal for both parties.
"We gave her a few games off," he said. "It was tough for our team; she's a leader. We lost some energy in those three games she was out."
Since her return, Dorsey and the Lady Golden Arrows have blazed a trail, winning six games in a row and 10 of 11.
"I think he pushes us a lot harder than other coaches have in the past," Dorsey said. "He doesn't really treat us like we're girls, and most coaches do. I like how he doesn't give up on us. If we're down, he believes that we can come back. He's constantly supporting us.
"I think he's good for us."
Except for Dorsey and Kaylin Rose, Wyles has a young roster. Juniors Avery Green, Hope Headley, Julianne O'Dell, Skylar Hyatt and Beth Ann May figure to make 2018-19 as much fun as this season.
Wyles saw this team coming.
"This group, when the seniors and juniors were in the eighth and ninth grade, they were pretty good," he said. "They've won a lot of ballgames."
And they're filled with a lot of heart, too, in the form of the girl in the headband wearing the No. 10 jersey.
"I've gotten a lot of leadership out of it," she said. "A lot of people look up to me. I think about what I'm doing outside of school; I make sure I'm doing the right things.
"Nothing is earned; you have to earn it."