It’s year two for Albert Lea girls’ basketball head coach Sean Gillam and the expectations have risen for the team.

The Tigers hit the court Tuesday against Waseca, a team that beat them by 21 to start the season last year.

The Tigers return a talented group of seniors who feel this is their season to move up the ranks in the Big Nine Conference. Albert Lea went 9-18 in Gillam’s first year as head coach after he overhauled the offense and the defense. Now the team feels more comfortable running both systems.

“Last year we ran it, but we didn’t understand,” said senior Morgan Stadheim. “This year we really understand it and see it more.”

The offense gives players a chance to read and react based on the defense instead of having set plays to run.

“That offense allows us to be better basketball players,” said senior Abbey Arends, who led the Tigers in scoring with 13.2 points per game. “We’re allowed to read and react and see things and play basketball.”

The Tigers were wildly inconsistent last season. Albert Lea knocked off Winona by 14 midway through the season and then later lost by seven. The Tigers lost by 12 to Owatonna, but later beat the Huskies by six. Becoming a consistent team is at the top of Gillam’s priorities.

“It has to be our goal to play with the top of the Big Nine,” he said. “It has to be our goal to believe we can beat them.”

The Tigers have Arends, their leading scorer from last season, Stadheim, the team’s leading rebounder from last season, but will be without the team’s point guard, Alyssa Sager. Sager, who averaged 10.6 points per game and 5.4 rebounds per game tore her anterior cruciate ligament this summer playing AAU basketball and her return this season is in doubt.

Gillam has depth at the position though, and he will turn to senior Sarah Wenum and junior Skyler Anderson.

Albert Lea lost starter Katie Schou to graduation and will have to find a way to make up her scoring, 8.1 points per game, and outside shooting. The Tigers believe they have the answer with Wenum and others.

Arends believes the team has a chance to compete for the conference this season and said the team is thinking collectively, not as individuals.

“We’re not thinking individuals, we’re thinking strictly team,” she said. “We want to get to section finals. We have a chance of winning the conference this season.”