Editor’s note – This is the 14th in a 17-part series of high school basketball previews counting down to the scheduled opening night of the regular season Nov. 29.

The Greenwood girls’ basketball team broke through last season, earning the team’s first trip to the Region 4 Tournament since 2012.

Now the Lady Gators are ready to take aim at another goal, getting to the first region title game since 2010. With a strong nucleus returning and a young group ready to make a splash, expectations are high for Greenwood.

“They tasted that success,” Greenwood coach Zach Simpson said. “They are hungry. They have been talking to me all offseason, ‘Coach, we are ready.’ They’ve been coming to practice and giving me everything they’ve got. The bar was set high with the success we had last year. We are looking to build off that.”

Greenwood loses three key pieces from last season’s run to the Region 4 semifinals – Jacqueline Jackson, Rachel Evans and Nicole Milam – but brings back three starters led by Leia Trinh.

The sophomore guard led the Lady Gators in scoring, averaging 17.2 points a game. Junior Kayla Grant nearly averaged a double-double with 9.4 points and 8.8 rebounds, while senior Olivia Lovell was second on the team in rebounding.

Seniors Kiley Elzy and Olivia Overmohle and junior Jessica Peterson will be asked to add depth and experience. Trinh is part of a talented sophomore class that Simpson believes is ready to step in and contribute at the varsity level.

“I really think you are going to see some young kids come in and make an impact because of the depth we have this year,” Simpson said. “I’ve kind of had to adapt my coaching style and our level of play to the personnel that we have, but it has been fun to go back to the drawing board and see what we need to do to put these kids in the most successful positions on the floor that I can.”

The mixture of youth and experience has the Lady Gators eager to build off last season – with Greenwood ready to take aim at not only a district title, but a run to the region title as well.

“When you come out of this district it is an accomplishment, it really is,” Simpson said. “We put that as our main focus. We don’t talk about anything else now in practice except that everything we do now is to prepare for the district tournament. We have those games circled on our calendar, but we are not overlooking our other games. We are coming to compete at the highest level. You don’t want to just compete. You want to win. That is the message I am sending to them.”{&end}