Despite losing four seniors last year, Greenville High School's firstnyear Girls Head Basketball Coach Ronald Bogan expects great things again this season.

The Lady Tigers (1n0) finished with a 21n4 record last year and won the Class 5A, Area 6 championship. They lost to Booker T. Washington in subnregionals, 70n71.

Bogan has those same expectations.

"My expectations are kind of high because of previous seasons," Bogan said. "My expectations are to make it to the first round and hopefully win the state championship."

Bogan said one of his main priorities this season is improving the play of the reserve players. He believes in doing so it will help build Greenville's girls basketball program as a whole.

"Right now we're in a learning stage," Bogan said. "In previous years, basically what the girls did as far as offense was concerned was pretty much freelance. This year, we're trying to do more structure things. We're trying to get the ball to the inside, and trying to do more structured offense. I think that will be the biggest thing we're going to have to overcome. Right now, we're trying to build our bench and get the girls prepared for the long haul."

Bogan said he didn't get a chance to watch Greenville's girls play last year, which he believes will help him in his coaching.

"I think that it's a plus n not getting a chance to see them play," Bogan said. "I can draw my own conclusions as to what I expect from them and how they perform."

The Lady Tigers performed well in their first game of the season, blowing out CentralnHayneville, 46n27. Jessica Powell led GHS with 15 points, Nina Robinson added 11 points and Kendra Mitchell finished with eight.

Even with noteworthy performances on offense in Greenville's season opener, Bogan said the Lady Tigers' defense was the biggest contributing factor in the win. He said defense will be the biggest key this season.

"In our first game, we played defense and kept Central under 27 points," Bogan said. "If we keep people under 27 points, we're going to win a whole lot of ballgames. That's basically what I'm preaching to the girls n defense. If we stop people from scoring, we're going to win some ballgames."

Wilcox Central, Booker T. Washington and Jeff Davis are the three schools Bogan believes will be the Lady Tigers' toughest competitors. He said his players will have to play at the top of their games to be able to compete.

"Wilcox has a lot of players returning from last year, and I think they're pretty much our biggest competitor as far as area games," Bogan said. "Booker T. beat us last year in subnstate, so hopefully we're going to get some revenge this year. We have them twice on our schedule. We also have Jeff Davis twice on the schedule. I think those three teams are going to be our biggest competitors this year."

Bogan said another key ingredient for the Lady Tigers to be successful this season is unity. He expects his players not only to be teammates on the hardcourt, but friends

off the court as well.

"Working together as a family, that's what I'm trying to instill in them," Bogan said. "Doing things together besides basketball and getting familiar with one another off the court, I think is going to help us out a lot. I feel if you get to know people, you're going to work well together."