The Three Rivers College women's basketball team has set its sights on the highest goal this season: a national championship.

The Lady Raiders have the players, the coach — and now the experience — to know exactly what it will take to climb that mountain.

“Our end goal every year is that national championship game,” said Lady Raiders head coach Alex Wiggs. “To give yourself that opportunity, you’ve got to stack days. We’ve got to bring it every single day. It’s a process where every game is no more important than the current game. We can’t look ahead. We have to be present — be where our feet are.”

In addition to 12 returning players from last year’s elite eight team are new players whom Wiggs expects to make an early difference.

“A big focus of ours during recruiting is finding pieces we were missing, and that’s the fun part about recruiting — how does this puzzle go together?” Wiggs said.

Three players he mentioned were Caitlin Lord, a 6-3 post player from Australia by way of Eastern Florida State College, Courtney Bluitt, a 5-8 guard from Texas, and Emma Tombs, a 5-11 Australian who transferred from Barton Community College in Kansas.

“The biggest thing that we thought that we needed was shooting and being able to space the floor so our athletes can get downhill and get to the rim,” Wiggs said.

He likes how the team chemistry is looking so far.

“I was talking with those new kids, and they said, ‘Coach, it really clicked this weekend,’ so it’s a great time for them to start getting that confidence and understanding our expectations about how we play,” Wiggs said. “Our new kids have done a good job of being coachable and seeing where they fit into the puzzle.

“It’s like I tell them, ‘I didn’t recruit you because you’re like this person or that person; no, we recruited you because you’re different. We need different to go ahead, finish it off, and accomplish our goals.”

Even with a championship as the goal, Wiggs recognizes the process.

“You’ve got to take care of business right now in order to even give yourselves a chance to make it to April,” he said.

Two of his returning players, Samari Taylor and Laylah Reese, agree with him.

“We want to compete and get farther than we did last time,” Taylor said. “Our goal this year is to raise the bar, raise the standard, compete and get to that final four and that championship game.”

Said Reese: “After the game we lost (in last year’s tournament), Coach Wiggs asked us if we would go back and change one bad practice if that allowed us to win a championship, and we all said yes. I feel like every day we come in and work to have good days consistently; we do everything that we can to better our chances.”

The veterans have a different perspective on what it takes to win it all.

“We knew before we got there last year that it would be tough,” Taylor said, “but after playing, we know the physicality of it, and we know that we have to be on our game every day. We can’t win it now, but we can definitely lose it if we don’t stack our days and come prepared every day.”

Reese echoed her teammate's sentiments.

“Last year, a lot of us being freshmen, we had an idea, but at the same time we had no idea of how tough it was going to be,” Reese said. “This year, we’re definitely working on stacking days and being consistent.”

Wiggs is still assessing strengths and weaknesses as they prepare for the season.

“Our post play has really impressed me this preseason,” he said. “That’s been kind of our weak area, but I’m really excited about where our production can be on the offensive end.”

Outside shooting continues to be a priority for improvement.

“I think our shooting will come around,” Wiggs said. “If there’s one area that everybody knows, it is, ‘Hey, challenge them and make them shoot the three.’ I think that’s the one area that we’ve got to continue to improve.”

The Lady Raiders open at home on Friday against Olney Central, then face off against Wabash Valley, ranked third in the nation, the next day. Before the end of the month, Three Rivers will also face ranked teams in Shelton State and Trinity Valley.

“There’s a lot of tests there early on that are both home and on the road that we get to see if where our weaknesses may be,” Wiggs said. “Like we talk about all the time, iron sharpens iron.”

To say the least, the first month of the schedule presents big challenges, from regional rivals to nationally recognized teams.

“Obviously, we did that on purpose,” Wiggs said. “Let’s challenge ourselves early on and see what we’re made of and what we need to get better at.”

Lady Raiders fans should be in for a treat this season at the Libla Family Sports Complex.

“When you come out, you’re going to see a group that’s excited for each other, that’s happy for each other’s success,” Wiggs said. “You’re going to see a team that’s full of energy that loves to play an exciting brand of basketball, so I encourage the fans to come out and support a team that truly enjoys being around each other and loves competing for this community.”

Mark J. Sanders - Daily American Republic