The Wildkat basketball team is ready to make another run to the state tournament this season after finishing third there the past two years.

The Kats are coming off a record-setting season in which they set the new school mark with 25 wins while losing only twice on their way to Northwest A Conference and Western A Divisional titles.

The Kats graduated three seniors from last year’s squad, Trista Cowan, Ryley Kehr and Savvy Ellis, who combined to account for half of the team’s rebounding and more than half of the team’s points per game.

“Those seniors from last year will be tough to replace, but that is something you have to deal with most years. That’s one of our challenges right now - figuring out which kids are going to fill those shoes,” head coach Cary Finberg said. “It might be that everything we lost in the stats column will be made up for by committee, as opposed to by just one player trying to make up for it. The kids we have this year got a lot of experience last season and that means that we might be a bit more balanced this year.”

The Kats bring back 10 players with significant experience from last year’s team, including seniors Josie Windauer, Kimberly Peacock and Graceanne Sevesind, juniors LaKia Hill, Madysen Hoerner, Hannah Schweikert, Peyton Rhodes and Lauren Falkner and sophomores Maddie Robison and Grace Gedlaman.

“We have a lot of kids back, but they are back with some different individual expectations and roles to fill. Right now, the kids are trying to find those roles and figuring out how they need to fit in,” Finberg said.

While the team has only been practicing for less than two weeks, Finberg says he is happy with his player’s progress.

“I like the way Peyton Rhodes and Lauren Falkner have progressed over the summer. They did not play a lot on the varsity level last year, but I like where they are at coming into this season,” he said. “Also, Josie was second team All-Conference last year and I think she is ready to take that next step and become a force on the inside for us. LaKia Hill has been showing a lot more leadership in practice and seems to be more comfortable with where she is at. Maddie Robison has also taken a huge step forward and we will be looking for her to do some more scoring this year.”

The Kats open the season at Frenchtown this weekend as they face Glendive in the Tip Off Classic at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Corvallis at 7 p.m. Saturday.

“We are excited to get going. These kids are real scrappy and they have been working hard and we are ready to get started,” Finberg said.

The Wildkat schedule for December includes:

Dec. 6 @Frenchtown (vs Glendive) - 7:30 p.m.

Dec. 7 @Frenchtown (vs Corvallis) - 7 p.m.

Dec. 14 vs Stevensville - 4 p.m.

Dec. 19 @Glacier - 7:30 p.m.