After an up and down 2013 season, the Ferriday Lady Trojans will look to make some noise this year when they take the court.

Ferriday finished 11-13 last year and was knocked out in the first round of the playoffs. However, head coach Lisa Abron said she was a bit surprised they made it that far.

“We had a senior nucleus that we depended on last year,” said Abron, who is entering her 16th season at the helm. “We had a lot of new players come in that were learning the system. I was really surprised how we got along and meshed as a team early in the season. We won some pretty big games, and I really wasn’t expecting us to win as many as we did.”

A big reason for the Lady Trojans success was Jada Griggs, who is entering her junior year of play. Griggs was a first team all-district selection, and averaged 18 points per game.

“I’m especially happy about her returning, and I’m looking for her to be a leader this year,” Abron said. “I have a lot of people that came off the bench last year that are returning and should give some key minutes as well. Trenace Morgan is another, our only senior, who will give us some quality minutes.”

But the majority of the load will fall on Griggs, who will be the floor general for the Lady Trojans at point guard.

“You’ve got to be a leader,” said Griggs of playing point guard. “You have to step up and do everything. It is easy, though, if you put your mind to it.”

She will be under pressure from Abron, who said she knows Griggs is aware of her important role.

“She handled it quite well last year,” said Abron of Griggs running the offense. “She was the two-guard, but in some games she did have to play point guard, so she does have experience. She knows we want her to have the ball in pressure situations, and she handles that pretty good.”

Griggs is now joined by everyone she played with in junior high, and is excited about the opportunity to continue to play with them.

“All of us grew up together and played ball in junior high,” she said. “Now, all of us are back together in high school. In junior high, we were always a good team, and I knew that if we came back together in high school, we would have the same mentality.”

Abron said she expects her team to smother opponents with strong defense and a quick offense this season.

“We like up-tempo style defense, and we like to pressure a lot,” she said. “This year, I have a lot more legs to do that. Offensively, we’re not a very big team, so we use our speed, and we like to fast break a lot.”

The Lady Trojans weren’t able to pick up a basketball until Oct. 15, but Abron has made sure her team stays as sharp as possible.

“We started shortly after Labor Day with conditioning drills, trying to get our legs and strength up,” she said. “They are a little rusty, but it is coming around. By the time we get started, we will be ready.”

Ferriday will begin play Nov. 15 in the Concordia Jamboree, with the regular season starting Nov. 18 at Tensas.