LYNNFIELD — With only four returning players, it would be easy to think that the Lynnfield girls basketball team was facing an uphill battle. Toss in the loss of a couple of impact players in two-time Cape Ann All-League honoree Bella George and co-captain Maggie Ozanian, and things would appear to be all the more challenging.

Third-year coach Sue Breen will have none of that type of thinking.

“We’re all very excited about this season and truly believe this team will be competitive,” Breen said. “I think we will just keep improving young kids mixed in with four core kids who have seen a lot of varsity time. We expect to have fun, keep improving and hope to get back in tourney. That’s the ultimate goal.”

This year’s team will be led by senior captain and guard Ava Gamache, as well as junior captain Taylor Valiton, a forward.

“It’s awesome to have two three-sport athletes in leadership roles who have been starters all three years they’ve been here,” Breen said. “It’s great that they play different sports in the fall and spring, but this is the sport played together.”

The only other returning players are junior Erika Pasquale, now in her third season on varsity and a Cape Ann League All-Star Second Team selection last year, and junior Emma Rose, who is in her second season on varsity.

“Erika had a great season as a sophomore and Emma came in off the bench for us last year,” Breen said. “Overall, it’s great that the numbers are up this year and we now have a gym full of kids, so I am very excited about this team.”

One of the newcomers who has impressed Breen so far is senior forward Addie Connelly, who is brand new to the team.

“She didn’t play basketball at all until this year,” Breen said. “Every coach loves to have quality kids and good athletes who are ready to learn and will get better every day.”

The Pioneers will field two teams this year, thanks to an influx of 14 freshmen, many of whom also played junior varsity last year as eighth-graders under a waiver. 

Breen hasn’t determined the final varsity roster, but expects to soon.

“It’s still a little fluid as we sort things out, but I can say that we have a couple of freshmen who we knew from last year and will likely get significant varsity minutes,” Breen said. “We have nine freshmen who played on the JV team last year, so we know they are comfortable running drills and with our style of play.”

Breen expects the team will be defensively-minded and that “defense will lead to some offense and confidence as we have played the last two years. One thing we do have is athletic kids and we know from the last two years that their athleticism played a big part in our success in the past.”

According to Breen, she expects the league will be tough again this year with Pentucket, North Reading and Newburyport being the teams to beat.

“Pentucket always has a great system that works well and while Newburyport lost a lot of kids, they always seem to have good, young players coming up. The same with North Reading,” Breen said. “Those teams are always so well-coached and have consistency from year to year.”

Lynnfield posted a 9-11 record in the regular season, earning the Pioneers the No. 28 seed in the MIAA Girls Division 3 tournament. The Pioneers defeated No. 37 Southeastern Regional Vocational Technical High School 41-27 in the preliminary round, but was eliminated by No. 5 Dover-Sherborn 57-24 in the Round of 32.

The Pioneers open the season with a non-league game against Manchester-Essex on Dec. 13 at home. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.

In addition to its league schedule, Lynnfield has three non-league games on the docket, two against Shawsheen Tech (Jan. 9 at home and Feb. 19 on the road) and Winthrop (Feb. 11).