Last season did not go quite as planned for the women’s basketball team The Lakers finished the regular season 8-17 and failed to qualify for the SUNYAC tournament for the second year in a row.

The only bright spot from a forgettable season for the Lakers was their impressive young talent, led by three freshmen and a sophomore. Offseason injuries, health issues and academic standings turned the team around and saw the dismissal of the Lakers  three leading scorers.

Back at the helm for her ninth season at Oswego State is head coach Tracy Bruno. Bruno is looking to put the Lakers back in the SUNYAC Championships, a feat they have not accomplished since 2013. Bruno isn’t focused on what happened in the offseason, but instead is ready to move on from it and get back to basketball after a tough summer.

“In this business things never go as you plan, unfortunately,” Bruno said. “We essentially lost our three top scorers from last year and that’s tough to recover from. Having said that, I think that we’re going into this year still optimistic and still try and be ultra competitive.”

One of those bright spots is returning at the point guard position for the Lakers this season.  Junior Mary Mazzella is the team’s returning leader in scoring (9.6), rebounding (3.9), steals (1.7), assists (2.7) and started every game for the Lakers last season.

As a captain and leader on the team, Mazzella looks to lead her fellow teammates and show some help along the way.

“I want to continue to be a leader for my teammates on and off the floor,” Mazzella said. “I am going to continue to facilitate our offense with an avid defense. I’m ready to arise to any challenges that we face and I know my teammates have my back.”

Bruno praised her junior point guard and believes that with Mazzella leading the team they can make some noise in the SUNYAC conference this season.

“She’s a spark plug for our team,” Bruno said. “She’s our pace setter, she’s fiercely competitive, she’s our captain and the team really looks up to her. She never takes a play off and when you have that in your captain it is definitely something you look to build off of, which is exciting.”

This year’s squad contains eight new faces from a season ago, including four freshmen, two sophomores and two juniors.

Mazzella and junior guard Alison Nunziato are the two keys for the Lakers and are the most experienced, with Mazzella starting all 25 games last season while Nunziato started all but one.

One of the new faces on the team, transfer junior guard Nicole SantaMaria, does not think that youth will be an issue and thinks this team’s style of tempo will be key in winning games this season.

“We have a pretty fast team,” SantaMaria said. “It’s going to allow for a lot of opportunities on a fast break from both an offensive and defensive standpoint.”

A few games to keep an eye on as this season approaches is the Lakers game on Jan. 23 and the last game of the regular season, both against SUNY Cortland. The Red Dragons finished last season 21-6 while losing in the SUNYAC Championship game to SUNY Geneseo.

Bruno thinks the competition of playing Cortland is fun for both the athletes and the coaches.

“It’s definitely a rivalry,” Bruno said. “We’ve beaten up on them and they’ve beaten up on us. In terms of success, they’re a team you want to aspire to be.”

The Lakers also play SUNYAC Champions SUNY Geneseo on Feb. 2 in Geneseo and again on Feb. 16 at Max Ziel Gymnasium on Senior Day.

The Lakers will open up their season at home against the Clarkson University Knights at 4 p.m. on Nov. 14 at the Max Ziel Gymnasium.