There may be no more experienced group of guards in Class AAAA girls' basketball this season than the trio of guards at Hempfield Area.

Returning senior guards Maria Montini, Melissa Lupinacci and Tara Catone headline a talented team that enters the season as the team to beat in Section 1-AAAA.

And that distinction is perfectly fine with veteran Hempfield coach Gene Brisbane.

"We kind of like it," Brisbane said of coming into the season as the favorite to win the section title.

"We like being looked upon as someone who is going to contend for the section championship. We look at it as a challenge every year and we think it's good."

Montini, a first team all-section selection last year, has started since her freshman year. As a sophomore she averaged 12.9 points per game and last season she averaged 14.5 points per game. After signing a letter of intent to Pitt-Johnstown, Montini will become the 24th Hempfield girls' basketball player to go on to college to play in Brisbane's 19th season at the school.

At least early on the team will have to learn to play without Montini. She is expected to miss the first three or four games of the season with a fracture in her right foot. She was bothered with the injury in the summer as well so Hempfield has experience playing without her.

"We are just going right along with it and we are doing OK," Brisbane said. "It is probably making us a deeper team."

The other returning guards, Lupinacci and Catone, have been starting since they were sophomores. Lupinacci averaged more than seven points per game each of the past two seasons while Catone has averaged 8.0 points per game and 9.5 points per game the last two years, respectively.

"They bring a lot of experience -- a lot of experience and a lot of leadership as well," Brisbane said. "They are really good to be around for a lot of the younger players. They are setting good examples."

The Spartans spent part of the offseason at a team camp at Coastal Carolina University and they played in the West Mifflin Summer League. They will open the season at the Spring Grove Tip-off tournament tomorrow and Saturday. Other teams in the tournament along with the host school are Waynesboro and Hempfield's opening day opponent, Eastern York.

Traveling toward the eastern part of the state, this will be the furthest Hempfield has traveled for a tip-off tournament while under Brisbane.

Hempfield will host a holiday tournament of its own later in the month with Baldwin, Woodland Hills, Connellsville, Penn-Trafford and Greensburg Salem participating.

After the trio of returning guards, Hempfield will have a combination of at least six different players contributing. A pair of junior guards Katy Balko (5-6) and Katie Kline (5-9) along with sophomores Danielle Murphy (5-9), Courtney DiBridge (5-6), Marissa Siard (5-8) and a freshman, 5-foot-10 Taylor Lubinsky will be in the starting rotation. Playing on the Quad-A level, Brisbane prefers playing with a deep bench.

Lubinsky came through the Hempfield system and she will have a big void to fill playing down low after the graduation of 6-foot-1 forward Jenn West last year. Based on the loss of West and his experienced guards, Brisbane expects to employ a guard-oriented offense this year.

"For the most part it is nice to have somebody taller than 6 feet and Jenn was a real good player and that is a tough loss for anybody," Brisbane said.

"We have to find that style that is going to be good for the people we have. We are going to play differently this year. We are not a team that is going to have the low-post presence.

"We are going to be slashing to the hoop and trying to get to the line. Defensively, we will pressure and try to get points off turnovers.

"We are going to have to play a very high level of defense and we are going to have to be a good shooting team. We don't have a lot of size, but I think we can make up for that."