Huntingdon women’s basketball opens season at Pensacola Christian

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The Huntingdon women's basketball team has been working hard in the preseason and is looking for continued improvement this year.

With three seniors and 10 returning players, the Lady Hawks are excited as they enter the season.

"I know, after practicing for about a month, our ladies are ready to see someone in a different jersey," Huntingdon head coach Buzz Phillips said. "As coaches, I know we're ready to see how well we execute what we've been working on.

"We have a group of young ladies that are ready to play. We've got good senior leadership and we have a lot of younger players that have come in and worked hard. The way our schedule is structured, we're going to need some of our younger players to contribute early."

Huntingdon travels to Pensacola Christian on Tuesday to start the season. Tipoff is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.

"Pensacola Christian always plays a good game against us," Phillips said. "They have already played seven games, so this will be a good test to get the season started."

Phillips said he wants to see his team improve on last season's 9-17 record and develop as a team.

"Our main goal is to work and develop more team chemistry than we've had in the past," Phillips said. "We want to improve on last year's record and we want to do well in the conference, but we're going to have to play as a team to accomplish those goals. The conference is so tough, year in and year out, we have to be ready to play hard every game."

Through the preseason, Phillips has liked what he has seen out of several players. Juniors Morgan Crawford, Katie Martin and Devin Douglas drew praise, as did sophomores Jodi Montalvo, Sekal Ousley and Raven Prater and true-freshman Chelsea Graham, among others.

But the leadership starts with seniors Jessi Andrews, Whitney Toole and LaTerial Williams. Phillips expects those three to set the tone.

"Two of our three seniors (Andrews and Toole) are in their fourth year with us and (Williams) is in her third season with us," Phillips said. "Jessi played locally at Hooper Academy and she has done well for us, both academically and athletically. Whitney played at Lakeside in Eufaula and has played in a lot of games for us. LaTerial played at Gadsden City High School and Snead State and has been a tremendous player for us. We're thankful to have all three of them back for one more season."