PHOTOS BY RICHARD AKRIDGE Junior Kayla Prescott, a newcomer to LISD, eyes the hoop during the Lady Badgers’ scrimmage Saturday afternoon. Lampasas begins its season tonight at Bangs. The rim remains at 10 feet, but the bar definitely has been raised for the Lady Badgers.

After witnessing the Badger football program earn its first playoff berth in nearly a decade and the varsity volleyball team come within one win of reaching the postseason, girls’ head basketball coach Stuart Beckwith wants to show his team is capable of similar success.

With a talented group at his disposal, the coach feels certain his girls also can turn around their recent winless district campaign and compete for one of the four available playoff spots.

“We’re as excited [for a season] as we’ve been in five years,” Beckwith said. “We’ve got one of the most physically dominating teams that we’ve ever had.

The Lady Badgers varsity basketball team consists of, from front left, Sarah Bishop, Kalyn Urofsky, Madison Morris, Kallen Vann, Kayla Prescott, Jennifer Herron, Hailey Morrison, Makayla Valles and Lauren Barlow. “We’ve got kids who can touch the rim, we’ve got athletes, we’ve got ball handlers, we’ve got shooters; I really feel like we’ve got all the pieces to put together a great team this year.”

The Lady Badgers begin their season tonight at 7 p.m. with a road game at Bangs.

Despite losing six players from last year’s original roster, Beckwith believes this year’s team chemistry could be the perfect blend.

“There are flashes of brilliance that occur,” the coach said. “I think we are better now than we were last [week] and if I can keep saying that, then by the end of the year we could be pretty good.”

Anchored by five returning players, including a pair of District 25-4A All-District second team members, the Lady Badgers’ coach wants his team to play with an aggressive mentality at all times and hopefully develop a distinct personality in the process.

“We’re [very close] to having a swagger,” Beckwith said. “The thing I like about a swagger is that I can swat it. If I need to swat it, I can knock it down, but it is just hard to build it up.”

While watching the other sports programs on campus achieve success helps, first-hand experience is the Lady Badgers’ best tool for building a winning persona.

Seniors Lauren Barlow and Sarah Bishop return to the squad after earning district recognition last year, and newcomers to the varsity Jennifer Herron and Kallen Vann join the squad after playing for the district champion softball team.

Junior Madison Morris played on the varsity volleyball team that recently forced Marble Falls into a tiebreaker match for the final playoff spot.

Although she is just a sophomore, Hailey Morrison is no stranger to success. She plays on the varsity volleyball team and owns a share of the 2008 Lady Badgers’ cross country district championship.

“If a kid learns how to win and learns how to compete, then she is going to write the best English paper,” Beckwith said. “If she’ll attack English in a competitive mode, then she’s going to do the best she can for me. That’s going to carry over to everything.

“If they’re competitive and they want to win, they’re going to want to win in everything they do. If they expect success every time they step on the court, the wins will come.”

Senior guards Makayla Valles and Kalyn Urofsky are expected to provide sound leadership on and off the court, while junior Kayla Prescott enters her first season in Lampasas. She is no stranger to the Lady Badgers, however.

“She came into a new school, not knowing anybody, and the first thing she did was go to the volleyball coach and say ‘Can I be your manager?’ ” Beckwith said. “She wants to be where the competition is.”

There is plenty of competition to be found in a district that sports the preseason No. 8 Class 4A team in Marble Falls.

Nevertheless, the Lady Badgers will look to be the third team of the school year to turn around a program that did not win a district game in 2008.

“I can’t sit here and tell you we’ll win every game; I wish I could,” Beckwith said. “I don’t think you have to win every game, but I think the fans in this town are supporting our football team not because of all their wins but because of their effort.

“That is going to build a winning and a hard-working tradition.”

Now, it’s up to the Lady Badgers to continue it.