It's different this year because there's more experience and maturity, but mostly because this is their last chance for the seven seniors on the York Suburban girls' basketball team.
"This is it," senior forward Karli Swartz said. "We're not a young team any more. We don't have that excuse any more."
In 2006-07, the Trojans finished the season with a dismal 6-16 record. Last year, Suburban improved by three games to finish 9-13, but it was still not good enough to earn a spot in the postseason. But after winning six of their first nine games to start 2008-09, including a 41-37 victory over Dallastown Friday night, the Trojans have put themselves in good early position to reach the district tournament.
"We have the ability," Swartz said. "We have seven seniors and we have the ability to go out on the floor every night and step up and win."
Suburban's game focuses mostly on tough defense that forces turnovers to allow the offense to capitalize. The Trojans don't have the kind of prolific scorers that squads like York Catholic, Northeastern and Eastern York have, but seem to have enough depth, toughness and experience to stay in the game against top teams.
Plus, the three seniors that start for the Trojans all bring a different skill set to the court. Lauren Hogsett can get up and down the floor with ease and knows how to handle the ball, Macy Marcucci (above) can move well without the ball and create open looks for herself and Swartz can control the post and pull down plenty of rebounds.
Possibly the toughest stretch of the season for Suburban begins tonight when the Trojans take on defending District 3 Class AAA champion Lancaster Mennonite (6-1) in the championship game of the York Suburban Holiday Classic. Their next two league games are against Eastern York (8-1) and Red Lion (7-1).
Swartz said the Trojans are not intimidated by the tough competition.
"We need to just play our game," Swartz said. "When we focus on the court and stay in control we can beat these teams that we quote-unquote shouldn't have beaten."
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