Another basketball season has arrived and once again the Flathead Valley has a host of talented girls teams with potential title runs in their sights.

The Glacier Wolfpack and Columbia Falls Wildkats are each coming off state tournament appearances last season — the Wildkats taking third place in Class A.

The rest of the Valley will be nipping at their heels, hoping to turn the tide of the Northwest Montana basketball dynamic.

Class AA

Glacier

(16-8 last season)

Graduating just two seniors from a team that recorded their first win at the Class AA state tournament last season, the Glacier Wolfpack are reloading for 2014-15.

While one of those seniors was all-state post Cassi Hashley, the Wolfpack returns another all-state selection in junior guard Hailee Bennett. As a sophomore, the youngest all-state selection in school history, Bennett averaged 12.5 points a game, shooting 78.5 percent from the charity stripe and 38 percent from behind the arc. An energetic defender and talented point guard, Bennett will again be a key part of the Glacier attack.

“She earned so much respect just the way she competes everyday in practice, that started in volleyball this fall and she is carrying it into the basketball season,” Glacier coach Kris Salonen said.

“She’s definitely a leader. If she’s on the court and ready to compete, the girls are going to rise up with her. It’s a mutual respect; it doesn’t matter what game they all know that we need each other in order to accomplish our goals.”

Much like that run to the state volleyball tournament, the Wolfpack will get key minutes from seniors Brielle Bumgarner, Tessa Krueger and Katie Wiley — three 6-footers to solidify the boards. While the volleyball season ended without any hardware, Salonen says the girls are hungry to continue their athletic success on the hardwood.

“So much is carrying over from volleyball. They just had such a phenomenal season,” Salonen said.

“I was surprised after a little disappointment in volleyball we had a lot of energy and camaraderie at practice. They’re very coachable and wanting to get better. A lot of stuff from last year is a review so we get to change up a few things. We’re just excited to do some different things defensively this year because we’re very athletic and long. Teams know we’re a man to man team and we like to play man to man, but us being athletic and long we get to play some different defenses. That’s fun and nice as a team to be able to put in those things.”

Flathead (5-16)

The Bravettes feature four seniors, but fail to return an all-conference performer. The new season will be an opportunity for Flathead to find its identity with a roster full of returning letter winners as well as key newcomers.

“I think they’re settling into the changes and we’re starting to move forward,” second-year coach Lisa Hendrickson said.

“The emphasis is to get better — get better every single day and learn from everything. There’s a lot of commitment. I’m really excited to play 12 deep and everybody knows their role.”

Senior guard Jessica Simmons returns to the lineup after missing significant time last season with a shoulder injury. She is joined by fellow seniors  Janae Moon, Johanna Lembke and Lauren Clark. Junior Stephanie Wilson, a key contributor off the bench last season, will see her minutes increase.

The sophomore class at Flathead is loaded with talent. Tiana Johnson has led the Bravettes in scoring in their first three early-season contests. The 6-1 guard can dominate the glass and well as shoot from the outside. While she got some varsity experience as a freshman, fellow sophomores, Taryn Gutierez and Kylee Beccari did not. Gutierez, Becarri and junior Liz Lorentz figure to be key post players for the Bravettes.

“They’re young. They’re inexperienced at the varsity level,” Hendrickson said.”

“It’s going to be a challenge for them because they haven’t played against a varsity defense, but they work really hard and they have things that are unique to themselves.”

Class A

Columbia Falls (22-2)

The momentum is already rolling in Columbia Falls. The Wildkats return all but two players from last year’s talented squad.

Class A’s leading rebounder, senior Winter Kemppainen, returns to a squad poised for another postseason run. Kemppainen averaged 11.4 points and 8 rebounds a game a year ago. She is joined by fellow all-state selection Cydney Finberg, who led the state in assists as a freshman. The Wildkats also return all-conference selections, Ciera FInberg, Ellie Johnson and Kiara Burlage.

On the cusp of the state championship a year ago, the Wildkats are hungry for another run at a title.

“We have a lot of girls that finished second at state in soccer this year. We have a lot of girls that finished second at state in volleyball. So these girls know what it takes to get there and be successful,” coach Cary Finberg said.

“Now, it’s just a matter of continuing to get better this season and get back to that state tournament and hopefully taking that next step.

“Everybody’s goal is to win the state championship. That’s not our goal. Our goal is to get there and see what happens. Obviously, in the back of your mind, I know this team is capable of getting there and getting it done. But we’ve got to make sure we look at the bigger picture and take care of business.”

Libby (8-13)

The Loggers are looking for a breakthrough season in their final campaign of Class A competition. After a third place finish in Northwestern A play with just one senior in 2013-14, the Loggers boast five on this season’s roster.

Senior Shyla Stevenson, a first team Northwest A selection a year ago, returns. She averaged seven points, six rebounds and three steal per game.

She’ll be joined by senior Hailley Moe, who collected 118 rebounds last season, the fifth best mark in the conference.

“We’ve got some points back and we need to build on that,” coach Jim May said.

“The seniors have played together since their freshman year. We just need to improve on our scoring and figure out ways to score more points on a nightly basis. We’re going to apply a little bit more pressure defensively as well.”

The Loggers will get an extra boost of athleticism form senior Hailey Craig, who missed all of last season with a knee injury.

Polson (5-17)

The Pirates return all-conference honorable mention selections junior Nichole Lake and senior Skyla Krantz. As a sophomore, Lake scored 98 points and 76 rebounds in the regular season.

Sophomore guard Lauren Lefthand proved to be a threat from behind the arc in her short time on the varsity squad near the end of Polson’s season and will look to improve upon her success as an underclassmen.

Whitefish (1-19)

This is far from the same Lady Bulldog team from a year ago. With the addition of junior Coral Schulz and freshman Dani Douglas, Whitefish has athleticism across the court. Although their roster doesn’t included a single senior, the Lady Bulldogs are on the rise in Northwest A.

“Our three captains are juniors,” coach Clint Peters said of the leadership on his young roster.

“Our point guard is a freshman so I think anybody that really steps up and say ‘Follow me’ we’re all going to head that way.”

The rookie Douglas and transfer Schulz join returning junior letter winners  Anna Peterson, Katie Fyall and sophomore Haley Nicholson, who saw plenty of minutes last season.

Douglas scored eight points in her Whitefish debut, including two 3-pointers against Class AA Flathead.

“She’s a good player. She can shoot, she can play great defense and she handles the ball. She makes the people around her better, which I think makes for a great teammate,” Peters said.

“The biggest difference I saw this year was the commitment in the offseason. It wasn’t necessarily in the gym shooting basketballs, it was in the weight room. We had a good group of girls in the weight room and girls were working hard on their shots in the offseason. Then you bring in Schulz and Douglas, who we didn’t have last year, and those are two missing pieces that I think everybody else is feeding off of and it helps us become that complete team.”

Class B

Bigfork (18-5)

The reigning 7B District champions have a new coach and a very familiar roster.

While Jami Grende takes over the Valkyries varsity program, Bigfork graduated just one player from a year ago.

With the addition of transfer Katie Thomas (Glacier) it could be another successful year in Bigfork.

“I’m impressed with our speed, they’re quick, they’re big and I’ve got a lot of returning players.,” Grende said.

“We’ve got some quick guards. They can run the floor. If we can run, that’s what were going to do.”

Seniors Marissa Hiza, Riley Coleman and Josie Spoklie all return with varsity experience. They’re joined by juniors Lana Berg, Mattison McAnally and Miranda Campbell.

While Grende praises her team’s speed, the 6-1 Campbell should prove to be a vital asset down low.

“She’s got a lot of potential and she has improved a lot from the first practice,” Grende said.

“She’s got great hands and I think all we have to do is work on her confidence and I feel she can score whenever she wants.

“Our goal is to win the fourth quarter of every game. What I want is to be competitive in every game and walk away feeling we gave it 100 percent.”

Eureka (5-18)

Seniors Evynn and Nicole Anderson, juniors Amanda Peterson and Country Lemer return quality minutes to the Lions squad.

Seniors Caty Gondeiro and Gina Williams join Peterson in the paint while freshmen Eryn Their and Elizabeth Pacella are the youngest Lions on the roster, looking to make an impact in their young varsity careers.