The Big Sandy Mountaineer -

Big Sandy Pioneers are once again under the direction of Head Coach Shersteen Cline and will look to challenge the rest of the District 6C-East this fall.

Big Sandy will begin the season this Friday when they take on the Centerville Miners in a non-conference road match.

Saturday the team will head to Belt to play in the Husky Preseason Invitational.

The Invitational is a great way for the team to gage where they are on the court and will provide the team with a great opportunity to face a number of different teams outside the District

The girls have competed hard the past few seasons but finding the win column has been challenging.

This years group has a bit more experience heading into the season and expect to make some noise during the regular season and then see what happens come the postseason.

Cline has fourteen girls out this season with a good mix of experience brought back.

Seniors Dakota Terry and Jessica Roth are back and will look to lead this years squad.

Junior Jaylyn Cline had a fantastic season a year ago earning District 6C-East All-Conference honors.

Sophomores out this fall are Georgia Wortman, Lainey Gregory, Stacey Allderdice, Hope Gasvoda and Cassidy Belcourt.

The Pioneers have a good group of freshman out, they include Abby Syverson, Abriana Blanton, Noelle Beirwagen, Alicia Bjorsnestad, Adrienne Gigson and Madison Terry.

Cline is building a program and has a plan to do that, "I expect the girls to learn how to work through adversity and learn to have a winning mentality. If they can do that, we have some real potential."

The loss of some kids and a large number of underclassman is a challenge the team will have to take on.

"We lost some older girls that were on the team last year, and we had a lot of freshman come up. So, we are pretty green, but we have a couple key seniors, Dakota Terry and Jessica Roth, who have really stepped up to help lead the group," stated Cline.

As far as the early expectations, "Everything is a little hectic at the start of the season, but we have started to find our rhythm and the girls are working really hard," added Cline.

The opening weekend will have a lot of girls experiencing things for the first time "The first game there is always a lot of nervous energy on the court. My hope is that they can play as a team & continue to encourage and support each other, win or lose," Cline said.

The team is excited about the season and hopes to grow as a team, "I hope that the girls look back at the season & can say they enjoyed themselves, and they find motivation to put in the off-season work necessary to improve for the following season!" conclude Cline.