After co-oping with Viburnum last season, this year’s Cuba High School girl’s basketball team will be made up of just Lady Wildcats.

Because of that, Cuba lost five players from Viburnum and one star senior, Courtney Caron from last year’s team. Caron led Cuba to a 15-12 record and was the Lady Wildcat’s leading scorer and was an All-Conference and All-District selection. Viburnum is just having a JV team of their own this season. This year’s Lady Cats’ team doesn’t have a senior, and its young roster will be led by four juniors in head coach Evin Farris’ second year as head coach for the Wildcats.

Farris, who was the head man at Belle High School for eight years before coming to Cuba, said that he expects juniors Leah Schmidt, Jaylin Haffer, Myra Garbo and Annica Farris to anchor his young 10 player roster that also consists of two sophomores and four freshmen.

“Leah, Maya, Jalen, Annika, I think those are your four leaders,” Farris said. “They’ve been in the program now going on three years, one year already with me. So I think those are your leaders to lean on and look to guide the younger girls. And any questions that happen, they’ve got to at least go through it last year and learn already with me, so they can kind of help those younger girls just transition into it.”

Farris and his assistant coach Jayda Weber have been emphasizing applying pressure defense and turning defense into offense during practice so far, and wants that to be the identity of his team this season.

“We have to limit teams from scoring high scores. That’s the big focus right now, is definitely the defense. I like playing fast. I like playing physical. I like to get out and go.”

While he wants his team to play fast, Farris is also making the point of taking care of the ball and limiting turnovers to his young team.

“Right now we’re going to learn first how to just get some good stops, and then I want them to take care of the ball,” Farris said. “Usually I like to play fast, but right now we’re going to just learn how to take care of the ball. We might slow it down more this year, but that’s just to try to teach and grow with our younger girls how to control the ball first, and then we can start speeding it up.”

Schmidt will be the Lady Cats’ lead guard and the engine that will direct the team’s offense. Farris said that Schmidt’s varsity experience last year will help her game continue to grow.

“Leah (Schmidt), being the lead guard, point guard last year, and just getting a lot of minutes in that role, I think she’s ready to take on the even bigger role this year.”

Cuba is also expecting a big season from Haffer, who recently was named an All-District volleyball player for the Lady Wildcats. Farris said that Haffer’s attributes that make her a great volleyball player also translate to the basketball court. 

“She’s (Haffer) a great athlete. She probably rebounds at one of the strongest rates I’ve ever seen out of any girl I’ve coached. She just is a hard nosed rebounder who’s long, lanky and gets after it.”

Garbo is a tough versatile guard, who excels on defense and playing in the paint on offense. “Mya (Garbo) is one of those players that really prides herself on playing in the post,” Farris said. “She’d probably post up as good as any center post player. She’s just not as tall as them, but she posts up strong. She’s fast and physical.”

Annika Farris is currently sitting out of practice with an injury, but is expected to return at some point in the season to help provide leadership and scoring for the Lady Cats. “Annika is a guard who’s a shooter, driver, and just tough, strong,” Farris said. 

While Cuba’s juniors are solidified in their roles as leaders, the Lady Wildcats’ sophomores and freshmen will have a chance to play significant minutes and gain valuable playing time at the varsity level. Sophomores Brooklyn Tate and Lili Dickens are frontcourt players who are expected to be staunch rebounders and post scorers. Freshmen Kylie Dulaney, Makayla Wells and Izarra Smith are all guards who are expected to help with ball handling, perimeter defense and scoring. Fellow freshman Addison McGinnis is a wing player who can handle the ball and plays with defensive tenacity.  Cuba will be managed by sophomores Savannah Vass and Josie Boldt

The Lady Wildcats will play a road heavy schedule early in the season in which they will play two home games in December and just one home game in January before playing the majority of their games in February at home. 

Cuba will play in the Black and Gold game at 5 p.m. on Nov. 15 alongside the boy’s team before competing in the Jefferson Jamboree at 5 p.m. on Nov. 17 in Festus. The Lady Wildcats’ season will officially begin at 1:30 p.m. on Nov. 22 when they will play Richland in the Bluefish Shootout at Rolla High School. Cuba will then play road games against Newburg, Bayless and Villa Duchesne before playing their first home game on Dec. 9 against St. James.