There’s excitement in the air for the Washington Demon girls’ basketball team. Not only does the new season tip off tonight against Anamosa in a game you can hear on KCII, but head coach Shannon Ruggs’ team has a chance to make big leaps from only winning three games last season.

The reason to believe Washington is heading onward and upward is gaining experience. Top scorer Alex Murphy is back for her senior season and will look to build on averaging better than six-and-a-half-points and seven-and-a-half rebounds per game. Fellow senior Kaylin Long will also look to build on putting up almost six points and four rebounds per contest, as the Demons seek to make major improvements on only scoring 30 points a game as a team. Senior Makenna Conrad and sophomore Lauren Hinrichsen also return to the staring lineup. And, with sophomore Kendall Hinrichsen and juniors Maci Williams and Taylor Bartholomew also back and ready to take on bigger roles, Ruggs tells KCII Sports he’s not easing his players into things this year.

“We had a great offseason,” Rugg says. “We started back in March, and we’ve had eight to nine girls that were regulars and just had an outstanding offseason.  We put in a whole new offense and now we’re putting in a new defense. You’d think it would be business as usual with everyone returning, but basically everything we’re doing right now is brand new, so it’s been good and it’s been some headaches at the same time.”

Washington travels this evening to take on the Anamosa Blue Raiders, a team that went winless last season. The Demons begin a new season of girls’ basketball, and you can catch it on 106.1 FM KCII and streaming on kciiradio.com at 7:30. Coverage starts with the Washington Hy-Vee Pregame Show at 7.