After coming off of a somewhat disappointing end to last year’s season, albeit a second place finish in the O.K. Red, the Grand Haven varsity girls basketball team is hungry to finish what they started.

Loaded with veteran depth of nine juniors and four seniors, coach Katie Kowalczyk-Fulmer has been impressed with what she’s seen since last season.

“Overall, this group has probably put in more time than any team I can remember,” Kowalczyk-Fulmer said over her 20 years in coaching. “I think that when you put time in, [it makes] you want to win. It’s nice to see their hard work pay off.”

Winning has come pretty easily over the years for the Lady Bucs, however this year, that isn’t enough. In fact, Kowalczyk-Fulmer has been preaching a new motto to her team.

“Raising the bar,” she said. “Deeper, quicker, smarter, stronger [and] tougher.”

Part of “raising the bar” this season will consist of new setups on defense. The Bucs want to use more of a full-court press method, but also stick to their usual strategy of a trap zone. Kowalczyk-Fulmer also mentioned she wanted to implement more of an inside presence around the paint, as well as an outside presence.

The girls’ basketball team will also “raise the bar” in their mentality this season, as Kowalczyk-Fulmer noted.

“It’s a marathon, not a sprint,” Kowalczyk-Fulmer said. “It’s the distance you travel from start to finish. It’s all about getting better, you have to keep getting better.”

As the start date of the season closes in, Kowalczyk-Fulmer is excited to see what’s to come of this year.

“I think we’re a little bit tougher than we were last year, a little bit stronger, a little bit smarter,” Kowalczyk-Fulmer said. “I think we have a chance this year to be really good.”