With four returning starters from a state runner-up team last year, you would think the New Salem Baptist Academy girls basketball team is in mighty good shape for this season.

But that one departure was an awfully good one in Sarah Green. The point guard was a four-time all-stater who controlled the pace of the game on the perimeter as well as providing scoring. She scored 43 of New Salem's 84 combined points in the semifinal and final games last year in the Missouri Christian Schools Athletics Association Class 2A state tournament. While New Salem finished as a runner-up last year, it won state titles the two previous years.

It will be a different area of strength this year with Green gone but 5-foot-10 center Kelsey Barlow, 5-9 forward Martha Poole and 5-6 forward Celsey Cook among the returning starters.

"Our two tall players last year are a freshman and a sophomore this year," New Salem coach Jerome Gaines said. "We're OK on height, but we lack ball handling. We're struggling at point guard."

Barlow is a sophomore, Poole is a freshman who has been with the varsity since seventh grade, and Cook is a junior. They are joined in the starting lineup by Laura Poole, a 5-5 senior guard.

"Laura Poole is our senior, our captain, and she'll be our floor leader this year," Gaines said. "Our leading scorer could be Martha Poole in the post."

New Salem opened its season Friday.

Gaines expected a possible dropoff from last year's 20-6 record as the team finds its identity early, but "we should be competitive by state tournament time."