WARDSVILLE, Mo. - With five seniors and seven juniors on the varsity roster, you can't blame first-year Blair Oaks girls basketball coach Darren Heckman for being excited for the start of the season.
"Everything is a new first-time experience for me," Heckman said. "I've really enjoyed it to this point. We're anxious to get started officially."
The season officially begins today against Helias at Rackers Fieldhouse. The JV contest will start at 6 p.m. with the varsity to follow at about 7:30 p.m.
Heckman said it's been a smooth process getting to know the team and implementing his style of play.
"We're changing some things trying to get our program in place, and I've appreciated the way they've bought in," he said. "We just asked them to buy in and trust what we're trying to get done. To this point, it's been very good."
The Lady Falcons' roster isn't just packed with experience, its full of players with a variety of skills that gives Heckman options.
"We've got a lot of girls who's played varsity basketball," Heckman said. " I think we've got an opportunity to be pretty good. We've got some size. We can be multi-dimensional. We can go small or we can go big. Just trying to figure out those combinations right now with what makes the most sense depending on who we are playing."
It starts with post play for Blair Oaks. Brooke Boessen was the top scoring threat for the Lady Falcons a season ago. The 5-foot-9 junior gives Blair Oaks a different dynamic inside.
"Brooke is just very athletic," Heckman said. "She's just a really good athlete. She's got a lot of potential."
But there's also taller options available. Abby Girard (6-2) can make it difficult for opponents to score in the paint.
"You can't teach what she's got, size," Heckman said. "Defensively she can be a threat for the other team and a positive for us.
"Offensively, I think she's going to do some good things as well."
MaKenna Kliethermes (5-11) can also play the post for Blair Oaks.
"Makenna can go inside and out," Heckman said. "She's really grown a lot the last two years. Physically she's gotten bigger. She can be multi-dimensional."
Macey Stockman and Paige Luebbering will add even more depth inside.
Another scoring option from different spots on the floor is Sydney Wilde.
"I think she can create some matchup issues for the other team because she can go inside and out," Heckman said. "She's a really strong player."
Running the point will be Peyton Kusgen. Kayla Jones and Halie Rackers will also take guard spots. Claire Heckman, Hunter Lauf and Grace Scott add depth for the Lady Falcons.
"I think we should be a good shooting team if we can get ball movement and player movement," Heckman said.
As far as defense, Heckman said there's still some work to do. He added he'll mainly have the Lady Falcons play man-to-man with some zone mixed in.
"We just want to keep getting fundamentally better," he said. "Defensively we've got some things that we noticed (Friday night during the Jamboree at Helias) that weren't unexpected necessarily. We've got to keep working on our defense. We've got to get a little better there."