With the winter sports season looming, one team looks to carry their momentum from last season’s great postseason run. The girls basketball team, who made the quarterfinals in the state tournament last year, is moving forward into a new season with high hopes once again.

The team will try to repeat or even improve upon their performance from last year, but they will have to do so without three seniors, including Sophia Sanfilippo who was a dominant force for the lady rangers last season.

One of the captains of the team this year, senior Rhea Thornton, knows how tough it will be to replace such a large part of their team.

“We had three seniors [last season.] They all contributed a lot to our team so it’ll be rough trying to find people that can replace what they did,” said Thornton. “Especially Sophia because she scored a lot of points for us. But we have Emma Yoder, who is taller than Sophia was, and she’s been working really hard in order to fill the shoes of Sophia.”

Emma Yoder will replace Sanfilippo in the middle this year, and according to her teammates is very capable of filling those big shoes. Senior captain Jessica Fuller tells just how promising Yoder is looking.

“Emma is going to play our post this year and I think she’s going to do really well,” said Fuller. “She looked really good in our preseason fall league.”

But even with this new youth, there is plenty of experience on the team as well. The six seniors this year make the lady rangers a veteran team that knows what it takes to compete and win at the varsity level.

“I am expecting my captains and seniors to lead by example,” said coach Kelvin Grady. “[They need to] have fun, play hard, smart, together, and set a tone for those following.”

Thornton agrees with this assessment and also implores her fellow seniors to be a model of hard work for the whole team.

“[The seniors will] be able to show the freshman, sophomores, and juniors that hard work does pay off,” said Thornton. “And that we will do anything it takes in order to get as far as we possibly can in the postseason.”

But just being a senior heavy team is not the only change the lady rangers are undergoing this year. Fuller wants the team to adapt on the court as well.

“This year I want us to play a fast pace, get in shape faster, and be able to run teams up and down the floor,” said Fuller in a hopeful manner.

But even with some of the changes from last season, the team also wants to carry over some of its traits that made it so successful last year. Grady tells what he believes they had last year and need to bring forward into this season as well.

“Our main focus is to have fun, work hard, stick together, and to compete on a consistent level,” said Grady. “We feel if we are able to do those things on a consistent basis, we may be able to have a great season.”

Thornton adds that positivity and always having the right attitude is important to the team and its continuation of success.

“[We need to] stay positive even when times get tough,” said Thornton. “And make sure that everybody’s working as hard as they possibly can.”

And even though having all these qualities are a good start on the road to a great season, Grady emphasizes the need to always challenge his players in order for them to improve their skills throughout the season.

“My goal and my assistant coaches goal for this season is to continue to challenge each student athlete on a daily basis,” said Grady. “We want to bring the best out of each athlete. Setting high goals and holding each student athlete accountable is a huge key to that.”

Another theme that was present as an important factor to forming a successful program was cooperation and cohesiveness among players.

“I think that we really need to focus on the team chemistry and making sure that everyone will do their absolute best,” said Thornton. “Without team chemistry the team won’t be able to function and we won’t be able to do well at all. So I think that one thing we need to focus on is making sure that everyone is together and that we have one main goal of doing the best we possibly can.”

So with all these characteristics in place and the team eager to get into their schedule, they are almost certainly poised for another good season. It’s no surprise they have high goals and expectations as a result of that, including doing well in conferences and states again. According to the players and coach, it is only a matter of what the girls put forward that will decide what happens this year.

“My goal for this year would be to get better, learn from mistakes, and compete everytime we touch the floor whether game or practice,” said Grady, adding to his expectations for the year.

And with all the hype from last year’s performance, the team knows it will have to be just as strong this year to make a run into the postseason.

“We all just need to stay together as a unit and know that we may struggle from losing those seniors,” said Thornton. “But after a lot of hard work at practice we will be able to accomplish more than we ever thought possible as long as we stick together.”