It's a new season, but two perennial favorites are expected to rule their leagues in Harford County girls basketball.
On the one hand is Fallston, returning 10 of its top 12 players of a year ago when it went 21-0 before losing in the state Class 2A semifinals. On the other is Harford Christian, armed with a collection of postseason honors the last two years and coming off successive records of 28-1 and 19-3.
Fallston will be after its third straight county and regional titles, with only senior Suzy Harrison (back surgery) missing from the foursome that has been a critical part of coach Nancy Ferguson's program the past three years.
The others are holdover starters center Candy Credito (8.9 points per game, 9.2 rebounds per game), forward Jenny Weber (8.1 ppg), and point guard Lori Heffley (4.3 apg, 77 steals). Junior forward Rachel Simon and sophomore guard Karen Tiedemann complete the starting lineup.
A second five, a little smaller but with equally solid skills, gives Ferguson, in her ninth season as head coach, excellent flexibility mixing and matching in the course of a game.
How does a coach keep this much talent happy? "Actually, it works the other way," said Ferguson. "If they do what they are supposed to, they'll work into the lineup."
Harford Christian, missing only Laura Thomas from its fourth straight Maryland Association of Christian Schools Athletic Conference championship squad, will be looking to extend that streak.
The "only" is a big one, though, for Thomas led her team in scoring and rebounding, and was second in assists and steals. However, second-year coach Brian Akers believes this team will be able to compensate for the loss and once again should be very good.
The other four starters are seniors Jettie Moir, Becky Geisendaffer, Jen Lowenstein and Suzanne Akers, the coach's sister. The team is already 3-1, with a different high scorer each time.
John Carroll, the county's other nonpublic high school, has senior veterans Heather Pyzik and Jessica Schrader, with 6-foot sophomore Britney Whitehurst, a Fallston transfer, the key newcomer. New coach Kathleen Shannon sees the Patriots being perhaps the most improved team in the Catholic League.
While Fallston appears to be in a class by itself, Bel Air, C. Milton Wright and North Harford are only a notch behind, and, unless one steps up, they likely will take turns beating each other. For the other -- mostly inexperienced -- teams, this will be a learning year.