LADY RAMS TO FIELD ENTIRELY NEW LINEUP

At the beginning of any basketball season, no coach knows exactly what to expect.

But Scott City girls coach Randall White is at the extreme end of uncertainty."We're still looking for our strengths and weaknesses," White said of his team which has no returning starters from a year ago and has just two seniors on this year's team. "We hope we don't start out rocky. We have to get out there and mesh as a team. As long as the kids practice and play hard, they'll compete."While White doesn't know exactly what to expect, he does know one thing: "We've got some kids who work hard and that's the key. If you play hard, you've got a good chance to have a good year."Last year, Scott City put forth an impressive record of 18-9, but that is a moot point considering eight players off that team have graduated.

Perhaps a more telling record was that of the Lady Rams' junior varsity team. It went 17-1.

Erin Raines, a 5-3 guard got quite a bit of playing time last season and Lisa Sanders, a 5-10 forward/center started two or three games and is a probable full-time starter this year.

Raines and Sanders are the team's only seniors.

White said he didn't know yet who the rest of the starting five would be, but 5-5 guard Jennifer Bain, 5-10 post player Ashley Lynn, 5-8 post player A.J. Bedwell and 5-6 post player Robyn Oller will all compete for playing time as juniors. Freshman post player Rachel Spinks, at 5-10, and 5-6 freshman guard Jenny Pinkston will also see time at the varsity level.

White is pleased with his team's shooting ability, but there's more to playing basketball than shooting."I've got eight shooters," he said. "Are they scorers? No. The kids need some work. We won't be overly quick. We'll just have to wait and mesh."The top three scorers on last year's team were Becca Gowin, Lani Bedwell and Alana Smith.

Gowin, a shooting guard, is playing college basketball at Marionville Indiana. Bedwell is playing at Shawnee Community College.

Scott City opened the season Monday night against Chaffee.