This year, the Lady Pumas are as fresh as the season. Although they lost key players who have recently graduated, they have added six eager players to the varsity roster.

In the past, the team was mostly comprised of upperclassmen and the team was faced with filling the positions of players who graduated last year. With the additions of underclassmen players, last season’s Lady Pumas were summed up as a “young” team with a skill set to match their title. However, this season the team is showing more experience and a stronger roster.

The majority of the varsity team are returning players, but six players have recently been added to the team. Among the list are freshman Taylor Jobe, sophomores Jade Verbane, Emily Soloman and Elyse Dunn, junior Emily Wilhem, and senior Yemisi Serrano, who have brought a new energy to the the team.

In terms of replacing their graduated players, head coach Brock Kearsley stated, “They had some big shoes to fill but they did a good job.”

Kearsley also says that it was difficult to practically start over last season with all the new players and lack of experience, but now that the team has gotten the hang of things, practices are running more smoothly.“They’ve gotten a lot better,” he added.

As far as team stats go, sophomore Olivia Vernon is leading scorer averaging 18.8 points a game. Right behind her are seniors Jenna Reynolds, who averages who 11.1 points a game, and Cassidee Brumby, who scores 9.8 points a game. Senior Melanie McBride is the Lady Pumas’ leading re-bounder averaging 4 a game.

Even though things are looking up, just like any other team, the Lady Pumas still have their struggles.“We have a lot of players that are really good defensively but need a little work offensively [and visa versa].”

Everybody has their strong suits and the team has been doing a good job of working together and helping each other. After all, they’ve been playing together for three or four months now. Nonetheless, the Lady Pumas are ready to play hard and make their mark.