Abilene Cooper   Ballinger   Killeen Tournament  Odessa High  Odessa Permian Midland Greenwood Tournament
 Midland Lee  Lubbock Coronado  Midland Greenwood  Amarillo High  Lubbock High  Copperas Cove Tournament
Amarillo Tascosa  Midland High  Lubbock Monterey  Odessa High  Lubbock High  Midland Lee  Lubbock Coronado
                        Odessa Permian  Amarillo High  Midland High  Amarillo Tascosa  Lubbock Monterey

The Central girls basketball team has made the playoffs each of the past two years, but making it three in a row may be the program's toughest challenge yet.

Last year's team, which went 20-12, graduated 10 seniors, including three who went on to play college ball. That left just two lettermen returning for coach Jan Wakefield, who faces the added challenge of the new 10-team District 2-5A.

It all begins tonight for the Lady Cats, who host Abilene Cooper in the season opener.

Point guard Mercedes Lopez returns after a breakout sophomore year in which she went from JV call-up midway through the season to honorable mention all-district by season's end.

"She continues to improve and push herself," Wakefield said. "She's someone I really trust to handle the ball for us."

Also returning to the varsity team is senior Nailah Jernigan, who became a valuable inside player for the Lady Cats off the bench last year.

"She should lead us in scoring and rebounding," Wakefield said. "Her sophomore year she was out with a knee injury but worked really hard last year. She's going to be our go-to player."

The rest of the varsity will only be familiar to Central fans who watched JV games last year.

"After those two (Lopez and Jernigan), it's all new faces," Wakefield said. "Basically the rest of the girls are off our JV, and they were successful last year."

Jernigan will have four fellow seniors on the team: post Caitlin Hodges and a guard trio of Jasmine Johnson, Brittany Pittmann and Rachel Robinson.

Lopez heads a group of six juniors on the team that includes guard duo Luz'ce Baca and Sydni Barr, Lake View move-in Aschlee Fischer, one of the team's best passers, Briana Martinez, and post Shay Warren, who is expected to miss the first few games because of an illness.

The team will have a pair of sophomore posts, Chelsea Howard and Ashley Fitzpatrick.

Howard isn't tall for a post but has a 25-inch vertical leap. Fitzpatrick, however, broke her foot earlier this week and isn't expected to return for six weeks.

That opened the door for 6-foot freshman Katie Wohleking, who was moved up to varsity this week.

"I feel really good about all these girls," Jernigan said. "We're a new team, a young team, but we all have something to bring to the table."

In all, it's a team that's not big on experience or size, but Wakefield said team chemistry and good fundamentals could make up for those shortcomings.

"They are not flashy, but they love the game. They are going to work hard," Wakefield said.

"We were kind of scared going into our scrimmages," Lopez said. "We have a short team this year and losing 10 seniors can make you scared. Once we break that bubble of being nervous, we'll do good."