As usual, Terry Wells is looking at challenging for conference and district championships.

But one thing the veteran St. James High School girls’ basketball head coach will need...more points.

A beefed up offensive output is the top priority for the Lady Tigers entering this season. St. James began preseason practice sessions last week.

The Lady Tigers are scheduled to open the season the weekend of Nov. 20-21 at the Rolla High School Bluefish Shootout, then take on defending Class 1 state champion St. Elizabeth Nov. 24. St. James’ first home game is set for Dec. 3, when the Lady Tigers host Union in their Four Rivers Conference opener.

St. James is coming off last season’s improbable run to a fifth consecutive district title - and sixth in the last seven years. Offensively-challenged, St. James also captured the undefeated Four Rivers Conference crown–the ninth time in program history they won both the district and conference crowns in the same year. It was also the 19th overall league and district crowns for the program.

St. James ended the 2025-26 campaign 17-12 overall after a Class 4 Sectional playoff loss to St. Francis Borgia.

After losing three seniors, Wells still has talent to build around coming back, along with an incoming freshman group who could also make a difference if they can transition from middle school to high school competition.

“We got off to a very slow start, but seemed to find our rhythm late in the season, winning nine of our last 10 games including going undefeated in our conference play and winning our district,” said Wells, entering his 15th season as Lady Tiger head coach who has a 297-102 record with the program and a 350-177 overall mark. “I think we will grow as the season goes along. We may have some bumps along the way, but I truly believe in the potential of this team. I will put a heavy load on my upperclassmen to lead early. I will put pressure on our young kids to defend like we expect. When I find seven or eight players who defend like we want, we will really start hitting our stride. We will see if and when that happens.”

The key varsity returnees include 5-7 senior point guard Payge Kemnitzer, 5-5 senior guard Adalee Richardson, 5-5 senior guard Jolie Roark and 5-6 junior forward Kaelyn Smith.

Kemnitzer paced the Lady Tigers with a 12.6 scoring average and was tied for second among St. Louis-area players in made three-point field goals with 83. She also averaged 4.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 2.2 steals. Richardson averaged 8.2 points, hit 32 three-pointers and made 2.8 steals; Smith 4.1 points, 3.1 rebounds and 1.2 steals, and Roark 2.5 points.

Kemnitzer is the returning Four Rivers Conference Most Valuable Player while earning all-conference, all-district and all-area honors. Richardson was also All-FRC, all-district and all-area.

“She is our senior floor captain coming off of a great junior season,” Wells said of Kemnitzer. “We will relay on her for leadership on both ends of the floor. Addy is a tenacious defender who also scores for us. We count on her speed and athleticism on both ends of the floor. Jolie is a great defensive player who we expect to improve offensively this season. We need her to take and make open shots to space our offense. Kaelyn plays bigger than her size. She is an excellent rebounder and a tough, hard-nosed player. She will do all the dirty work for our team.”

Others looking to earn a varsity starting or rotation spot are sophomores Ella Marcee, Adrianna McWhorter, Haley Stack, Anslee Stubblefield and Jada Swopes and freshmen Leah Adams, Aubrey Carroll, Jada Denney, Sydni Howdeshell and Paige Nesbitt.

“We have 10 underclassmen this year,” Wells said. “It will be the goal of our coaching staff to develop these players and judge who is going to help us at the varsity level.”

The big goal this season is to pick up the production on offense. A year ago St. James was a conference and district champion despite averaging just 41 points per game.

“We generally like to push the pace and use our defense to create some offensive opportunities for us,” Wells said. “Last year we only averaged 41 points and we relied on our defense to carry us for most of the season. I would like to think that we will improve offensively as the season goes along. We have some young kids who are very gifted offensively. It will be the job of our staff to put them in situations in which they can be successful and improve as the year goes. If we can score in the 50s consistently, we always feel like our defense will be strong.”

Obviously, the Lady Tigers’ harassing defensive pressure was the key to last season’s success, giving up an average of just 36 points per game. A similar performance is a must.

“We like to apply pressure in both the full and half court,” Wells said. “We like our defense to help our offense by trying to create double digit points off turnovers. Our defense is something I take a great bit of pride in, so I will be preaching our defensive effort and expectations from Day 1. My upperclassmen will guard. Whichever underclassmen decide they want to guard like we expect will have the biggest roles at the varsity level.”

Key contributors lost to graduation are guards Avery Campbell and Jaci Foust and forward Sophie Deluca.

Wells feels if the veterans mix with the youth like he believes can happen, another run for championships could be in the result.

“We have a good offensive core back with very experienced players,” he said. “That will be a good foundation for us to start the season. We have to get scoring help from our young kids, however, and the quicker that happens the better our offense will look. We want to be aggressive on both sides of the ball. We always shoot a lot of threes and that won’t change this year, but we also need to make sure we are putting pressure on the rim and getting to the free throw line.

“We have experience defensively and we have some size and athleticism. We hope to have enough depth to push the pace defensively. However, this summer I wasn’t really happy with our defensive intensity. That will be our No. 1 focus in the preseason. Our young athletes have to play defense angry. Hopefully my upperclassmen will carry us on this end until we figure the rest out.”