RANDOLPH, Utah — The Rich High School girls basketball team has high expectations this season.

And with a veteran team, the Lady Rebels aren’t hiding what they hope to accomplish during the 2017-18 campaign.

“We want to win it all,” senior Kierra Groll said. “It’s going to take hard work and determination.”

The Rebels, who are off to a 2-1 start to the season, know a state championship won’t be handed to them.

“Everybody has to go hard in practice,” Rich senior Jilia Hopkin said. “We can’t let up if we want to take state.”

Rich went 16-9 last season and earned a fifth-place finish at the 2017 UHSAA state championship last year after claiming a 48-28 win against Tintic. The Lady Rebels opened the state tournament with a 55-51 win against Wayne before suffering a 45-37 loss to Monticello in the quarterfinals, sending them to the fifth-place game.

Rich graduated six seniors from last year, including honorable mention selection Melanie Lamborn. But the Lady Rebels are anything but inexperienced. 

“We have a lot of senior and we have some pretty good leadership,” Rich coach Cody Lundgren said. “There’s a couple of girls that have started for me the last couple of years. It’s a team that plays hard together. It’s a fun team to coach. They’re a great group of girls, and they work hard.”

Groll looks to lead the way for the Lady Rebels again this season after earning second-team All-State honors has a junior. Groll averaged 12.7 points, 1.1 assists and 1.6 steals per game during her junior campaign. She also scored a season-high 36 points against Bear Lake, Idaho on Dec. 9.

Groll, is off to a good start already, averaging 19.25 points with eight 3-poiters in three games. 

Seniors, Amberlee Smith, Lauren Thompson, Kaylee Cornia and Hopkin will also start for the Rebels this season.

“I think we are going to do pretty good. We can go really far with this team,” Smith said. “We’ve been playing together for a while. I think we’ll do really well.”

While Lundgen has a season starting lineup early in the season, he isn’t hesitant to go to his bench when the opportunity presents itself. 

“We’ve got a strong varsity Class, so there’s some girls that could help us out during the road,” Lundgen said. “We have pretty good program and we’re hoping some girls step up and can help us out. We need to stay focused as a team and try to stay strong as a team.”

Rich opened the season Nov. 18 with a 47-45 win against Wayne. The Lady Rebels suffered a 55-54 loss to Bear Lake on Nov. 30, but bounced back with a 55-45 win against West Side on Dec. 2.

“I think we’ve done well,” Smith said. “There’s definitely some things we can work on, but so far we’ve done pretty well for our first three games.”

The Lady Rebels will be back in action at 7 p.m. today at Altamont. 

“We’re taking it one game at a time,” Lundgen said. “Our focus right now is against Altamont. Hopefully if we keep doing that throughout the year, it will make us a better team by the end of the year. Hopefully we’ll peak at the right time at the end of the year.”

As of press time, the Lady Rebels are ranked third in Class 1A.