With the first game under its belt and six more this weekend, varsity girls basketball is back on the court.

“I think last year there were people coming on new to varsity,” senior Lindsey Johnson said. “It’s the same this year, but I feel like we know each other more than the teammates from last year. The girls this year have been playing together since seventh grade so we all know each other’s strengths and weaknesses.”

The team lost the season opener at Leander 58-49, Tuesday, Nov. 10.

“We lost by nine,” junior Tyia Dixon said. “The last quarter we were within three, their leading scorer had 26 and we shut her down the second half which was really good. She had 18 the first half and we limited her to six points the second half. It was a battle the whole game, came down to free throws and missed layups. We definitely should have won. It was just [our] first game, nervous.”

The basketball team will play six games at the Cedar Park Classic, Nov. 12-14. They’ll play at 12:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday, and at 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Saturday. The tournament is a prime opportunity for the team to finesse their game.

“We’re going to test out a lot of plays that we’ve been struggling with learning recently,” Johnson said. “Like from the game last night, if we know that someone went to the wrong place, we’re going to work on that during the tournament. People are going to try different positions, all that.”

Utilizing their weaknesses and what they’ve learned from playing against Leander, the girls are determined to do well during the upcoming tournament.

“I’m really excited for our team this weekend,” senior Kailey Hunt said. “We had a tough game last night, but I definitely think we’ve come a long way as far as team chemistry, so the six games this weekend is really going to allow us to put that bond into play. We’ll see how we develop.”

The team is looking to move past last year’s season. They struggled in the shift to 6A, only winning one district game and finishing 13-22 overall. But that season is now motivation for the girls to have a strong start and show how you much they’ve improved.

“For us I think the biggest challenge is being the underdogs,” Hunt said. “We had a tough season last year and we know as a team that we’ve come a long way and I think the toughest part is being able to execute and show other people, ‘Yes, look, we’ve really developed as a team.’ Just finishing, executing, putting everything into play, I think that’ll be the hardest part.”