The Adairsville Lady Tigers will rely on just four experienced players to lead them the early part of its season while its younger players get their games going.

The team returns three players with significant playing time at the school last year plus a transfer with starting experience, head coach Michael Roberson said.

"Other than those four, we don't have a lot of varsity experience," the coach said.

The Lady Tigers hope to improve on their overall record of 3-21 and 1-9 in Region 7B-AA of a year ago.

Their senior leader is Emily Cole, a returning 5-foot-4-inch starter who led the team in scoring a year ago at the wing position, contributing an average of about 11 points a game.

"She is our leader, and defensively, she matched our opponents' best guard player," Roberson said.

Cole was named to the Lady Tigers Thanksgiving Tournament all-tournament team last year, was on the sub-region team and was a second team all-county player.

"I expect big things from her this year, too," he said. "We need her to score maybe a little more but mostly to be more consistent every game and to bring the same defensive effort as last year.

"She's showed signs of scoring more this year, and she is shooting from the outside and putting it on the floor, too."

Mallory Bramblett, the 5-foot-6-inch sophomore who plays opposite Emily at wing, also is a returning starter.

"Mallory can also score for us," Roberson said. "She's more of a jump shooter than a driver. She likes to spot out and is always a threat to hit the three.

"She had 100-plus points as a freshman even though she didn't start for us until about Christmas. She just moved into a starting role, and she shoots the ball well from outside."

The coach said the Lady Tigers will be expecting a lot from Chelsi Riley, a 5-foot-8-inch power forward who he said could earn a starting position.

He said Riley, also a sophomore, has a lot of junior varsity experience and also was a role player on the post for the Lady Tigers.

"She was a little stronger for us on defense last year," Robert said. "This year, she'll have to play a bigger role on offense. We didn't ask as much on offense from her as a freshman but will as a starter this year."

He said he's expecting a big contribution from junior Stormy Tomblin, a 5-foot-8-inch post player who played last year at Excel.

"I look for Stormy to be one of our leaders scoring," he said. "She has the ability to stretch a defense. She has the ability to go inside and she can shoot the 3 from the outside."

Roberson said the Lady Tigers will have two experienced point guards.

He said Cassidy Howren, a 5-foot-4-inch sophomore, will present some problems for opponents.

"She's a great athlete, has very good vision and is quick," he said. "She can get inside the lane. She'll do a good job."

Tia Hicks, a senior, also has varsity experience at the position for the Lady Tigers.

"Tia will play a lot of minutes at point guard for us and will have a very big role," Roberson said.

Kaleigh Liscio, a 5-foot-6-inch sophomore guard, will be another key player coming in the game.

"Kaleigh will be a spark off the bench" he said. "She'll be able to come in and give us a lift."

He said other roles will be spelled as the season progresses and the players show what they can do.

"We have a couple of sophomores and seniors with a good deal of varsity experience," he said. "We're using our scrimmage game to see where some of our freshman are and where they can help us."

He said while the Lady Tigers have experience, the team is very young.

"We have 25 girls in our program and 21 of them are sophomores and freshmen," he said.