Women’s coach Kevin Meines and the Lady Lions basketball team expect another great season in the new SPSL league.

The program will be featuring a veteran squad, as they will only miss four seniors from the previous season. Still, the team boasts a wide age range to complement their experience, as well as D1 bound junior Shalyse Smith who will be attending University of Arizona.

As junior guard Madeline Garcia said, “The team has been together for a long time.”

During the off season, the team competes in summer tournaments and trains twice per week in preparation for the season.

Meines is excited to begin play in the new league as, “Teams were tired of getting thrown around by us.” However, some teams will still be at the mercy of the talented squad, such as South Kitsap and Olympia.

With such a tall and athletic squad, the team has their sights set on a State Title. Meines believes that the team has championship potential, and must shut out all distractions to be as successful as possible.

On the men’s side, The Lions B a s k e t b a l l Program is already plugging full steam ahead as it prepares to enter its 20th season under head coach Bernie Salazar.

The team has played the entire summer together, and the proposed varsity squad is currently competing in fall league with high schools from the surrounding area. Salazar truly keeps his players busy by also holding training sessions three times per week.

This is all in preparation for an entry into the new, competitive South Puget Sound League. The new league takes away some of the oldest Bellarmine League rivalries and introduces new ones like Curtis and Puyallup.

Senior guard Cole Price is excited to start the season. He said, “We hope to win league and have a chance to make it to state.”

The team is very physical, and boast many strong players. Salazar wants to run well formulated plays to give the offense structure and to make scoring easier and more fluid.

Even with the departure of the Lion’s top scorer Malachi Flynn to Washington State University, this Lion squad has huge upside with returning players such as senior Joey Bodoia, senior Christian Moore and sophomore Charles Elzie.