By ROB HAMILTON

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First-year Highland girls’ basketball coach Whitney Levering will have a lot of experience when her team takes the court this season.

The Scots return nine letter winners from last year’s squad, as Taylor Belcher, Kelsey Walters, Harlee Steck, McKenzie Fuller, Brianna Dado, Krista Walters, Riley Denes, Erica Sardinha and Parker Steck. Fuller was a second-team pick by the Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference, while Belcher was named honorable mention.

While the team did graduate Bethany Porter, Hailey Moore and Madison Bradford, Levering has a few newcomers she expects to compete for time in Paige Cole, Elora Stiltner, Becca Jones and Allie LaFever.

After finishing 4-19 last year, the new coach noted that the big key to the new season is simply to improve.

“We want to improve our defensive fundamentals, rebounding and communication out on the floor,” she said. “We want to be a team that comes to work hard and improve on the fundamentals of basketball every day, as well as push one another to be our best. We are working together as ‘one team, one body’.”

When it comes to the MOAC, Levering notes that, much like last year, there could be a close race for the Blue Division title.

“Any team in the conference this year can come out on top,” she said. “Last year’s conference race was pretty close. I believe that the same thing can happen again this year. We can’t assume that any team is going to be a win.”

Rob Hamilton can be reached at 419-946-3010, ext. 1807. Connect with him on Twitter at @SportsMCS

Rob Hamilton | Morrow County Sentinel The Highland girls’ basketball team is pictured above.
http://aimmedianetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/29/2015/12/web1_highlandgbb.jpgRob Hamilton | Morrow County Sentinel The Highland girls’ basketball team is pictured above.