A new season means new opportunities for the BIC senior boys’ and girls’ basketball teams. The boys finished last year with 30 wins and only five losses and the girls were 19-12.

In the year that Coach Bill Taylor has been here, the senior boys’ basketball team won the District Tournament and made it to State but lost early in the tournament.

“Our only goal this year is to make it State,” Taylor said. “Our dream is to win it, but our goal is to make it there.”

Coach Justin Yates, the girls’ coach, aims to be the regional champions, and then work on making it to State.

“We want to get to State and take it one game at a time,” Yates said. “I feel this group of players has the ability to accomplish this goal this year and once we get there, we can see how far we go.”

The boys’ team is similar to last year’s, except they’re a little more athletic according to Taylor.

“Some of our boys have become better runners and better jumpers,” he said. “Austin Pike is back, so we’ll definitely be riding him. Their scoring is still a little rough, but because of that, we’ll have a better defense, which will balance it out.”

They plan on using the same formula as last year to win, which was being passionate, caring for one another, and having great chemistry to make it to State.

“One of our big opponents this year will be Earle, since they dropped down from a 3A to a 2A district,” Taylor said.

Other potentially difficult teams include East Poinsett County, Marmaduke, Riverside, Cross County, and Marked Tree. The most difficult, according to Taylor, would be EPC and Earle.

The girls’ team expects Marmaduke to be the team to beat, since they were last year’s conference champions.