In their first five games this season, Oxford’s girls’ basketball team will be taking on some tougher teams up front. Though the competition will be fierce, Head Coach Rachel Bryer thinks the schedule this year is only going to help her girls grow into a powerhouse squad.

“It’s going to be more difficult in the beginning, which will help is in the end in our league play,” she said.

Before the first of those games hit on Nov. 20, Bryer and the team were spending their hours in practice working on turning every player into an all-around talent. With a smaller roster this season, Bryer is looking to make the most of every girl’s abilities.

“We’re fast, our defense is quick, we’re scrappy, our hustle is there,” she said. “Defense looks really solid. But we are small, so we’re really going to have to work on better rebounding and taking those technical skills and really just make sure we rehash that every single night.”

According to Bryer, some of the top athletes to watch this season are co-captain and  junior guard Ashley Hershman, co-captain and junior forward HaLaya Cato, co-captain and junior forward Ana Raab. On the whole, Bryer said she has a lot of returners, all of whom she said will be serious assets this season.

“They get the game now,” Bryer said. “It feels so much better as a coach to not have to go back and teach those skills that I taught last year because they’re already there. The team is aging, they’re learning and their knowledge is growing. That means I can push forward in what I’m teaching them.”

Led by those ladies, the OAA white team is looking to do as well as they did last season, which ended with a 15-6 record.

“It’s going to come down to making sure we know the game and the plan and stick to what we learn in practice,” Bryer said. “These girls, they just work so hard.”