ST. REGIS – As basketball teams around the county began practice routines last week in anticipation of their first outings on the court, one squad was busy following in the footsteps of their football team and attempting to rebuild their program.

The St. Regis Lady Tigers basketball team was hard at work last week with what head coach Tyler Hurley said was a promising lineup of athletes. Hurley said, in his second year as head coach of the girl’s team, he was impressed with early workouts.

“They are coming along nicely,” Hurley said. “Kids are wanting to get into the gym and be successful. We only lost one senior off last year’s divisional team so we have a lot of experience on this team. They are working hard and the new players are picking up the system pretty fast. We take about an hour out of every practice to work on fundamentals.”

Hurley said the boy’s team was also showing signs of improvement and there was a higher level of participation this year than in previous years.

“Things are beginning to change,” Hurley said. “Kids are coming out and showing an interest. We are working on everything at the high school level.”

“We are looking forward to a successful year in both programs,” Hurley said.

The first game of the season for both teams will be at the annual Tiger Tail Tourney in St. Regis on Dec. 12. The Lady Tigers will take on Alberton at 6 p.m. while the boy’s team will face the Panthers at 7:30 p.m.