The Raiders were a young team last year.

Fortunately, they didn't lose many critical contributors to the rotation, meaning a key core will be returning to play under second-year head coach Erika Davis."We've been stressing particular areas such as continuing to improve on the fundamentals," said Davis. "We're focused on taking care of the basketball and making the right decisions with it. The girls need to play within their roles."Tamaqua has gained valuable experience, but got even younger this season. The Raiders feature just one senior, Alexa Hromyak. However, Davis's club will return a handful of girls that led the team in multiple areas.A pair of juniors will return who significantly contributed last season.Kirstin Jones will return as Tamaqua's leading scorer after averaging 7.45 points per game. Joining Jones as a key cog in the rotation will be guard Courtney Hoffman, who was second on the squad in scoring and led Tamaqua in both free throws made and attempted."Regardless of our 2-20 season, the girls came into every practice looking to get better," Davis aid. "They want to improve and have continued to work hard. They could have easily given up, but they did not. We had great dedication over the summer with basketball activities and lifting three days a week."The Raiders averaged just a shade under 30 points per game last season. Davis is a strong believer of offense being generated from the other side of the ball. Tamaqua has the personnel to open up the floor if it can crash the glass effectively."We need to be active defensively and allow it to create our offense," said the Tamaqua coach. "I am a big fan of us getting the rebound and looking to push the ball, which we were unable to do last year. We have the speed and ballhandlers to do it this year. We need to think quickly and make a great basketball decision in the open floor."Davis will roster four intriguing freshman who will aim to make an impact on the program this season.The Raiders' coach mentioned to keep an eye out for Emma Kuczynski, Jamie Zuber, Emily Titus, and Jen Frederickson."We want to be competitive and improve every single day," Davis said. "We want to challenge every team that we play. This team possesses the right basketball mentality, has great team speed. We need to finish around the basket and keep on improving."