SANFORD — The Sanford girls basketball team had a solid run in 2016-17, advancing to the Class A South quarterfinals and nearly pulling off the upset against Maine Girls Academy.

Now, with a much younger roster, the Spartans look to compete and to win games with the new-look group.

Sanford has only one senior and two juniors, with the rest being underclassmen. Although the group is young, it is confident heading into tonight’s regular season opener.

“It’s a new team, but I think we’re ready. We’ve been working really hard so carrying our momentum into this season, we’ll be able to do it,” said senior Molly Boissonneault.

The Spartans also have a new coach in Rossie Kearson, who has been pleased with what he has seen in the group so far.

“Eager to learn — I see a group that’s eager to learn like sponges. They’ve been taking everything in, doing their best and really working hard and giving me what they can give me,” said Kearson. “As far as my expectations, I think we will be good enough to win possibly 10 games, but at the same time I think we have a special group that can make some noise and surprise some people.”

Kearson has brought a new system and different style to the table … a style that includes tough defense, and an up-tempo offense.

“This year is a higher tempo and we’re all getting along well. We have different styled practices, different aspects of the game, and we put in the importance of the little things to make up for the big things,” said junior Julia Allen.

“We have a whole new style of play this year. We’re definitely a lot more up-tempo and you can feel that when we play with each other. It’s going to be a new season and a new team for us but we’re ready,” added sophomore Paige Cote.

Although it took some getting used to, Kearson feels that the team is finally hitting it’s stride with the new gameplan.

“The hardest part is getting this group to understand how important it is to shoot the basketball. They were very reluctant to shoot initially when we got in here. My style in predicated on defense, defensively we’re going to get after them. The up-tempo style is something that I think they enjoy,” said Kearson.

Despite the young roster, the Spartans are not short in leadership, as the returners have been helping the newcomers along the way.

“The returning players have definitely shown what varsity basketball is to the younger players, especially the freshman players,” said Allen. “I definitely think they’ve adapted to this style of play.”

As the lone senior of the team, Boissonneault has been trying to set a good example for the group.

“I think the young girls have been looking up to me a little bit, I’ve been trying to show them leadership,” said Boissonneault. “The girls have been working hard to get better and we’ve already shown improvement from the first day of practice to now.”

 “I’m excited for my captains … even during tryouts they were up there helping everyone and the younger players. Doing certain drills and walking them through things, showing them how they should be doing it, proper technique and stuff like that. Their leadership is something I’m really looking forward to,” said Kearson of his leadership.

Junior Megan O’Connell also thinks that having a solid mix of classes helps strengthen the program, and attracts new talent.

“It helps that our core is made up of people from different classes because it draws in new players and it’s not just all seniors coming back,” said O’Connell. “The different age groups is awesome, and we’ve all gotten really close.”

The Spartans are looking to improve each day, and hope to be one of the last teams standing in the playoffs by remembering the lessons learned from last year as well as to gelling this year.

“We learned that every game is important to the team and not to take any team for granted. We were in a lot of close games last year, (we need) to go into every game with intensity,” said Cote.

“We can make it to the playoffs … we just need to work together and work hard as a team,” added Allen. “We need to all do our job as a team and I think we’ll have good results.”

— Associate Sports Editor Alex Sponseller can be reached at [email protected] or at 282-1535 ext. 323. Follow the Journal Tribune Sports Department on Twitter @JournalTsports.