I started with Totodile, and it only took two tries you can get Magby, Zubat, Pidgey, Pidove, Trubbish, Ekans, Scraggy, and Mankey, which all would give you some sort of advantage over her Pokemon. Plus, if you poke around Opal Ward enough, you'll find a rooftop you can train on with higher-leveled Pokemon to grind.
Also, thanks for the shoutout FeatherDuster