Last season was a tough one for the Jamestown Eagles girls basketball team, as they finished with a 54-24 loss to Glasgow in the first round of the Class 1 District 9 Tournament with a 4-21 record.
Head coach Kirstyn Conley said this season the team has a goal of bringing more of a family atmosphere together.
"We went to some camps this summer and we did really well at those," Conley said. "We were able to speed the game up more this summer, so that is something I plan to do this season also."
This year, the team will have five returning starters, including an all-district player in Blake Scholl.
Conley said those returning players can be leaders for the team, after their rough season last year.
"I think the girls are ready to come out and show that is not the team that is here this season," Conley said.
Some keys for Jamestown will be how they work together, improved defense and being better conditioned.
"These last two weeks of practice, we have really been conditioning and we conditioned a lot in the off-season," Conley said. "So, them being able to push the ball, play a lot more man-to-man defense and get more ball pressure, I think those will be the main things we try to do more of this year."
While the team is not the tallest team out there, Conley said she told her team height does not matter.
"Strength matters," Conley said. "If you go into the game with a mind concept of you are going to win the battle of strength and you are going to continue to box them out and post hard on them, attack them; that strength will always win (over) height no matter how tall you are."