The Straughn Lady Tigers basketball team is ready to start the season, despite having so many young players.

Head coach Scott Kinsaul said he expects to have a great season.

“Well, it’s going to be hard to tell to start off with,” Kinsaul said. “Just like every year, we’re going to play hard and we’re going to be young with sophomores and freshmen and three juniors and one senior. These girls will have been under my system for three years now and they know what to expect from me.”

In order to get some wins this season, Kinsaul said the girls need to be efficient on the fundamentals.

“We need to rebound well and play good defense,” he said. “Just about like any team. We’re a very short team so we have to block out well and rebound well. We have to rely on our defense to score points for us.”

On the games that pose a threat to the team, Kinsaul simply said that the area games are the most important.

“All our area games,” Kinsaul said. “You’ve got win our area games to get a chance to host a tournament and go onto region play. Those are going to be our key games we’re going to focus on.”

Right now, Kinsaul does not know who will be starting this year, but added the girls are “competing” for the coveted spots.

“Every position is up for grabs and they’re competing for their positions right now,” he said. “I try to change the line-ups at practice and give an opportunity for everybody to play with everybody else. We won’t name starters until the first game and it could change game to game.”

Kinsaul said another expectation for this season is that all of the players will contribute in games.

“I’ve got 14 girls and I expect all of them to contribute in some way,” Kinsaul said. “I don’t know if there will be games where I’ll play all 14. I have confidence in every girl I put on the floor that she can get the job done.”