Girl's Basketball Preview

Coach: Rhonda Slider, first year

Last year: 10-14 (10-6 Northwestern)

Key losses: Haley Smith, Sara Michael, Megan Adams.

Key returners: Heather Armel, Sr. G; Whitney Dennis, Sr. G; Tori Eaton, Sr. G; Brittany Whitacre, Sr. F; Amber Webster, Sr. F; Kelsey Seymour, Soph. G; Shannon Thorne, Jr. C

Outlook: A smaller Northwestern District might not make the road any easier, considering the Colonels were swept by Millbrook and lost two of the three matchups against Sherando last season.

Wood did, however, sweep Handley last year.

With fewer district games, the Colonels need to improve on last season’s 0-8 non-district record.

Slider takes over a Wood team that returns seven players, including Armel, who led the area in scoring (20.6), and Dennis, who ranked first in assists (3.3).

Slider hopes her team can be a factor in the district race.

“I’m looking basically for our girls to step up,” Slider said. “We’re kind of the underdog here. Millbrook is going to be pretty tough. They run and gun and play a quick game. Hopefully our defense can hang with them.”