As the girls basketball season kicked off this year, they faced a major problem that could have been season-ending for any other athletic squad, but the Lancers stayed strong. When the season began, twelve players were named varsity, but three girls quit for other obligations and two key players were injured.

“With so little players, we can not even scrimmage during practice, so our assistant coach Corey Choate has to do most of our drills with us. We have to be in tip-top shape to compete with such a small team, so we have been conditioning a ton. We are making it work,” senior Savanna King said.

In the season-opener game, the Lancers faced Duchesne in the Randi Perkins Varsity Tournament held at Marquette. The Lancers only had six girls able to play as their seventh was out of town. That left the Lancers with only one substitute throughout the whole game. The Pioneers found their rhythm and defeated Lafayette, 41-28.

“I think the first game was an eye opener for not only our team, but our fans. Unfortunately, we were seeded last in the tournaments and other teams see us as a struggling team, however we came out strong and played pretty well under the circumstances,” King said.

Coach McAteer and the girls have turned their focus to giving the best effort they can against any competition as “We Before Me” has become the team slogan. There is no time for messing around with a team of nine, but it may have been a blessing in disguise.

“I have never seen a group of girls honor this slogan as much as our team. Everyone is so incredibly selfless and we work hard to make each other better,” King said.

In the next game of the tournament, the Lancers faced the Pacific Indians in a tough battle. Lafayette struggled to find any kind of offense against powerhouse Pacific seniors Ashley Hill and Kya Hill. The ending score of 59-19 left the Lancers hungry to improve and motivated to get their first W of the season against Nerinx Hall on Friday.

King said, “We are small, but we are an army.”