Before new Tamaqua girls basketball head coach Erika (Barron) Davis scored a school-record 2,317 points during her playing career, she practiced the fundamentals. Day in and day out, Davis worked on the fundamentals of basketball.

Davis is trying to bring fundamentals to the Lady Raiders program this season, which is a program that has struggled the last few campaigns.Any coach that is worth their salt will tell you that players are made in the offseason. Davis thinks that her players commitment to the fundamentals in the summer months has given her ball club a nice foundation to help with the team's hopeful turnaround."We've already come a pretty long way and we're making strides with the fundamentals of the game," said Davis. "I expect us to continue to improve in that area. There's always room for improvement in this game and I want our girls to have that never-satisfied attitude."At an undersized 5-feet tall, Davis not only had to be a skilled player, but a tough player as well. Toughness and defensive prowess will serve as the main philosophies for the Lady Raiders this season. The losses of Paige Demetriades (8.77 ppg), Vanessa Solt (6.59 ppg), Brianna Wittig (5.45 ppg), and Bailey Hartung (3.95 ppg) obviously will impact the Tamaqua offensive attack, which is why Davis is first putting her team's focus on the defensive side of the floor."We're getting better offensively, but our focus right now is defense first," said Davis. "I believe our offense will come along as the season progresses, but our first priority is to use our team speed. Our strengths are that we are athletic and that we are fast. We're going to try and use those abilities to pressure teams as much as we can and also play tough half court defense."The 2015-16 Tamaqua starting lineup will be comprised of sophomore guard Courtney Hoffman, freshman guard Kayla Sherry, sophomore forward Kristin Jones, sophomore guard/forward Kaitlyn Stauffenberg, and junior center/forward Mackenzie McVicker. Other players that will see action on the season are junior guard/forward Alexa Hromyak, freshman guard Emily Amershek, sophomore guard Abigail Agosti, and senior forward Allison Pederson.There's no doubt that inexperience will plague the Lady Raiders this season at times. Wins and losses are important to any coach, but Davis is more concerned with her team getting better every time they hit the floor."Our goal is to take no steps backward," said Davis. "We want our players to get better each and every time they go out on the floor. Competing is also key for us. We want to be in games and make teams leave the gym that night knowing they've played a tough game."There's an old basketball saying that goes 'hard work beats talent when talent won't work hard.' The hard work that isn't seen by the people in the stands is the work that is put in behind the scenes. Davis is hoping that the Lady Raiders energetic practice environment can help them pull out a few more "W's" once everything is said and done this season."We really work hard in practice and I think that will show once the season starts," said Davis. "We try to do everything with a lot of energy and we try to keep things at a pace that not only gets you in physical shape, but mental shape as well. I'm just excited for us to get out there and start playing some basketball."