The Columbus Wildcats are ready to tip off a new girls’ basketball season and hoping for an encore to one of the best campaigns in the program’s modern history.

Columbus went 15-7 last season and finished second to Lone Tree in the North division of the Southeast Iowa Super Conference on their way to their first winning record in seven years and their most wins in nearly a decade.

The entire roster is back for the Wildcats, including all-conference point guard Ariana Vergara, who led the team in scoring and averaged almost 12-and-a-half points, 5.5 rebounds, 2.5 assists and four steals per game.

Also back is fellow senior Lily Coil, who was an all-conference selection even after missing the final eight games of the season due to injury after she posted nearly 15 points, 10 rebounds and six steals per contest.

With the rest of the starters back, like junior Isabel Rendon and seniors Aracely Garza and Frannie Sosa, and a host of returning role players, Columbus head coach Kasey Keltner tells KCII Sports that his team has big aspirations for this season, but to get there, they have to start small.

“Getting better, I know that’s a hard thing to measure,” Keltner says, “but that’s something that we’ve said since Day One and I don’t want to go away from that, because I think if we get better, we’re going to continue to have success.”

“We want to go try and win this conference. That’s something we’ve never done. The girls have put it out there [and] that is a goal that they have, but I don’t think we’re going to do that if we don’t get better every day.”

The Wildcats will begin the new girls’ basketball season Tuesday with a trip to face conference rival Louisa-Muscatine.