The Sigourney Savages are one of the area’s youngest girls’ basketball teams, but sometimes youthful ignorance is bliss. Sigourney shrugged off some of the concerns a young team would have, but first-year head coach Schay Moore knows there’s plenty of ways to build on going 12-12. Junior Carly Goodwin took a big leap and became the team’s leading scorer last season, averaging better than 10 points and two steals per game. Sophomore Josephine Moore is back after becoming a formidable post presence with better than eight points and seven rebounds a game in her debut season. And junior point guard Rain Barthelman returns to show off her all-around game after averaging almost five-and-a-half points, 2.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists. The entire starting lineup is back for Coach Moore, who tells KCII Sports that a year older is a year wiser for her girls.

“For the last few years, it always feels like we’ve been the young team,” Moore says. “We’ve always started a couple freshman, maybe a couple sophomores, and had a lone senior. I really talked to them about ‘that’s not us anymore,’ now we’re kind of considered a veteran team and we need to start having high expectations for ourselves and holding each other accountable and playing with that mindset.”

Sigourney not only finished right at .500 overall after losing in the Class 1A Region 6 quarterfinals, but the Savages also went 8-8 in conference play last season. Perhaps even better results are on the horizon as Sigourney tips off the new girls’ hoops season by visiting Albia Tuesday night.