JUDA — Last season, the Panthers were a young team — and it showed. They were 0-12 in the Six Rivers East conference and 3-20 overall. With two lost to graduation, the youthful crew returns with more experience.

“My goals for the year are to continue to grow and build off of last year’s performance,” head coach Austin Pax said. “We were very young last year and return some good talent.”

Last season, seniors Anna Skoumal and Libby Jordan were all-conference honorable mention selections. This year, seniors Ciarrah Davis and Jackie Nusbaum will lead the team. They are joined by returners Lavinia Rufer (Jr.), Briliey Swedlund (Jr.) and Allexis Metz (So.).

In his first year as the head coach, Pax saw improvement in his team. This year, he wants to take another step in the right direction.

“Ball control and keeping the tempo of the game is the biggest challenge for us,” Pax said. “We have come a long way, but there is always room for improvement.”

The Panthers will need these skills if they want to compete with the top teams in the conference: Black Hawk and Albany.

“Black Hawk and Albany I feel like will be the top teams,” Pax said. “Both are returning a lot of talent and coached extremely well.”