A formula for winning, especially at the high school level, is

returning a lot of players from a team that was successful the year

prior. For the Mission Lady Bulldogs, it's a combination that

hopefully yields them those results.

After a 14-4 regular season record and a second-place league

finish, the Lady Bulldogs are returning five lettermen, including

three starters, and hope to continue the play that saw them do well

last year.

A formula for winning, especially at the high school level, is returning a lot of players from a team that was successful the year prior. For the Mission Lady Bulldogs, it's a combination that hopefully yields them those results.

After a 14-4 regular season record and a second-place league finish, the Lady Bulldogs are returning five lettermen, including three starters, and hope to continue the play that saw them do well last year.

It will be a different challenge for Mission, however, as they've switched leagues with the arrival of Ronan to Class B. Last season, the Lady Bulldogs played primarily smaller schools, including Eureka, Bigfork and Plains. As they enter this season, they'll see more of teams like Deer Lodge, Loyola and Florence, in addition to the Maidens.

"It's just a new environment and a tough league," Les Rice, Mission head coach, said.

It's not entirely unfamiliar territory for Mission, however, as they've seen these teams in years' past anyway. And with the returning talent they have, they won't be intimidated.

With returning starters Bryanna Steele, Stephanie Lewandowski and Loren Erickson, the Lady Bulldogs will have the leadership that good teams need to be successful.

"Those three are the leaders of the team and we're expecting big things from them," Rice said.

In addition to the talent of those three, as well as the rest of the squad, another big asset for Mission is its depth, something coach Rice hopes will carry them far this year.

"I think we'll play up to 10 girls," Rice said. "We've got a pretty deep team with decent size. Nobody really tall, but in the 5'7" to 5'9" range, which will be a bonus for us. We've also got five new girls we have to figure out how to get into the mix."

Rice hopes the girls are in the mix sooner rather than later so the team can be playing its best ball by season's end. While the coach hasn't outlined any goals on paper, he said that as long as they do what they set out to do, everything will fall into place.

"I think we need to be deep," Rice said. "If we can wear you out with constant changing of players, that will give us the most success.

"We have the ability to get six points from a bunch of girls, which will be tough to defend," Rice added. "If a team has one girl who can score 30, you might just need to shut her down. We have a bunch of girls who can score."