St. Pius will be out to defend their title, but will welcome many challengers wanting to dethrone the Sartans in 2009-2010. Elisha Levingston, Victoria Perko and Lauren Houliston return for Phil Griego who states, “We had great talent from 1 to 12 on last year’s team, but what made the experience that much better was the quality of kids, managers and coaches that made up last year’s team. Last year is a great memory. The new journey begins on October 26^th.”

District rival Belen is one team with high ambitions this season. Head coach Danny Griego returns Nicolle Sanchez, a player Griego refers to as a big time scorer and is the only returning starter from last year’s team, which advanced to the quarter finals, before losing to Roswell.

David Medina and the Del Norte Knights finished 5-1 in District 5-4A and 20-11 overall. Medina will look to a pair of returning juniors, Danielle Garcia and Maricel Medina, to help take the Knights beyond the Elite Eight of the state tournament. Last season St. Pius ended Del Norte’s season in the quarter-finals. “This year’s team will have a lot of depth and talent at all positions,” said Medina. “This year’s team will have a lot of varsity experience and have a winning tradition to up hold. Only attitude will hold back the team from accomplishing many goals for the season.”

Candace Pollard and. Shelby Burnett will lead the Bulldogs of Artesia. Pollard averaged 10 points a game while Burnett averaged six points for Jeff Houghtaling’s team which qualified for the state tournament last season, before falling to Del Norte in the opening round. The Bulldogs should be one of the quicker teams in 4A this season, according to Houghtaling, with good leadership and great perimeter shooting.

Back in 2007, the Capital Jaguars qualified for the state tournament and advanced to the quarter-finals. In 2010, the Jags have set their sights on a return trip and in order to accomplish this goal, the Jags must contend in a tough District 2-4A, alongside district powers Los Alamos and Espanola. The Jags return Vandora Montoya, Keisha Salinas, and Dominique Lovato-Vigil to an experienced, but a quick and undersized team.

Lisa Villareal and the Volcano Vista Hawks made an instant name for themselves last season, qualifying for the state tournament in their first year of eligibility. “We are very young and still learning what it takes to compete at such a high level of competition,” said Villareal. The Hawks return experience at the guard position with Emma Fenske (Sophomore, 16 Points per outing) "I know Emma is one of the best guards in the state regardless of class," stated Villareal. The Hawks also return Mandy Lee, a player the head coach refers to as the player who does things which do not appear in the scorebook.

Greg Torres takes over at Goddard and will look to Kelly Shubert who is the lone returning player from the 08-09 team. “This year's team lacks experience, but is full of very coachable and hard-working girls that will make tremendous improvements, as the season progresses. This year will provide a great foundation for the future success of the program,” said Torres.

At Bernalillo, Marissa Valencia and Katie Darnell give the Spartans good scoring and leadership. Both averaged double digits last season and head coach Taryn Archuleta sees her team as young but with great potential and heart.

Three words come to head coach Ben Tensay’s mind when asked what it will take to have the Farmington Scorpions make a run at the top, “Rebound, rebound, rebound.” Patience Benally and Bryannne Escojeda will definitely have an impact on how far the Scorps will advance this season. “Bryanne is tenacious, and tough; she is an excellent post player, and will be one of the top post players in the district this season," said Tensay.

Phil Clark takes over the reins at Moriarty, a school rich in girls’ basketball history. Clark inherits an inexperienced team with a lot of learning ahead.

Nine players return to Piedra Vista and head coach Mike Christie. Cheree Charley is a solid shooting guard and Kristyn Bates is considered one of the quickest players in 4A. “We will have to keep games up-tempo, and we will have to box out and control the defensive boards due to lack of height,” said Christie.

Kristy Marquez and Andrea Nunez return to Santa Teresa as part of a young but talented crop of juniors, for head coach Eric Legarreta who adds, “Defensively we need to be disciplined in our assignments with an aggressive manner. Offensively patience and fluid execution, with limited turnovers.”

Shannon Vigil at Valencia, rated her schedule as a nine in difficulty, stating that the schedule will include defending champ St. Pius as well as 3A power St. Mikes, 4A Deming and not to mention cross-town rival Los Lunas. Vigil likes the team’s maturity from last season but remains cautious with a sophomore oriented group. Look for Michelle Traynham and Molly Holliday to add leadership to the young guns from Valencia High School.

There was a time when Shiprock was regarded among the elite of girl’s hoops in New Mexico. The last championship for the Lady Chieftains came in 2002 and last season Shiprock made a run at getting back, advancing to the Elite Eight. This season Shiprock has experience in Courteney Benally and  Leayah Benally to help in returning the northwest New Mexico school back to glory. 

In keeping with the northwest part of the state, Kirtland head coach Charles Kromer returns three key starters as well as four lettermen to the line-up. Amanda Kerr had 97 steals a year ago to go with 263 points, for the 24-6 Lady Broncos. Throw in 55 rebounds from Olivia Harris and 40 rebounds from Wynonna Jim and Kirtland will be looking to notch state championship number 18.

Other teams to look for in Class 4A include Roswell. The Coyotes are the state runners-up and Espanola will look to make a run at things as will traditional powers Silver, Los Alamos and Deming.