Despite having a roster with 11 underclassmen last season, the Community Viqueens were just one win away from finishing at the .500 mark in the District 12-AA regular season.

With only one senior graduating, Coach Cody Pierce and the Viqueens look to improve on their 12-17 record and advance beyond the district tournament.

"We still have a lot of young players, but they're players that have been on the court and they're experienced," Pierce said. "They know what we do."

"Our goal is to improve from last year for sure," Pierce added.

Jesa Moore and Brianna Beech started last season and are the returning seniors on this year's squad.

"This will be my third year here and Beech and Jesa were sophomores when I came in," Pierce said.

"They've done a good job of leading this team and doing everything I asked them and being good leaders for the young ones."

Junior Breanna Whitaker and sophomore M. J. Simmons were starters and return for the Viqueens.

Sophomore Shelby Cawthon saw more action as the season progressed and started in several of the final Community games.

Zoey Dixon, Haley Mitchell, Aleah Wilson, and Addison Brothers saw plenty of action last season and will be a force for the Viqueens this season.

Pierce feels the intensity of the Viqueens will be a strength this year.

"We play hard and we play defense," Pierce said. "That won us some games last year."

Community finished district play last season with a 4-6 record, including a win over second-seeded Marshall County.

The Viqueen chances of advancing to the region tournament were curtailed by three close losses to the Giles County Lady Bobcats.

Community lost its two regular season games to the Lady Bobcats in overtime, and then lost to Giles County by one point in the district play-in game.

"There was something about Giles County last year. I don't know what it was, but we couldn't get over that hump," Pierce said.

With uncertain times during the pandemic, Pierce discussed what the team is doing to protect itself during the upcoming season.

"We've had a lot of discussion about it. This year is not going to be a normal year," Pierce said.

"We want to play every game on the schedule," Pierce added.

"I've talked to the kids. Eat, sleep, wash your hands. We want to be as healthy as we can because we need every single one of them and I don't need anybody out for sickness or contact tracing."

"Right now we're virtual and at least we know we get to start the season because we've had a lot of contact tracing here," Pierce said.

The team showed the effects of not having a lot of time on the court in the offseason during the first week of practice.

"During the first week, we had a lot of rust to knock off because we didn't have a regular summer this year," Pierce said.

"We got to practice some, but we missed out on going to camps and fixing a bunch of stuff."

"I could see a little more rust than I have in previous years, but I'm starting to see some things I saw last year," Pierce added.

"We're getting in shape and we're getting better."

"A lot of staying in shape and basketball shape was on them this year," Pierce said.

"A lot of the kids did a good job of getting outside and working on their shot and staying in shape. I'm proud of them for that."

The Viqueens are scheduled to open the season with two Hall of Champions games in the opening week against Tullahoma and Warren County.