For Tina Ramos, five years of shaping Vian’s basketball program started to pay dividends with last season’s trip to the Class 3A area tournament at Muskogee Civic Center, the deepest postseason run for the Lady Wolverines since 1994.

This season, she thinks the sculpture may be fully ready for display on a bigger stage.

“We’re now really playing the kind of style I want us to play,” she said. “I like up-tempo all the time. Last year we’d run a break sometimes, but it was still more half-court offense. With this group, it’s going to be your problem to catch us.”

Returning forwards LeiLoni Smith and Kiona O’Neal will lead the run-and-gun. Smith, a 5-10 junior small forward, averaged 12.7 points and 6.1 rebounds in last season’s 19-8 campaign. O’Neal, also 5-10, averaged 10.3 points and 6.1 rebounds at power forward.

Both along with 5-10 senior Brooklyn Cox and 5-9 junior Dana Mingoes, made of most of Vian’s relay teams in track. Cox will start at post and Mingoes, a raw but steadily improving talent, will be the first player off the bench.

In all, 12 of the 17 on the preseason varsity roster ran track.

“We’ve got a lot of speed we can put out there and keep people rested,” Smith said. “I like this style.”

The other starters are point guard Becca Brown (5-5, junior) and Rachel Sanders (5-6, senior). Sanders was the first guard off the bench last year and Brown also possesses “great speed” according to Ramos.

The coach said the key will be getting the new starters fully groomed, which may cause a slow start. But in the end, she said, there’s a gut feeling that this team, in her ideal image, may indeed make some loud noise.

“I know the Sequoyahs, Oktahas and Fort Gibsons are going to get their respect as they should. They’ve got the state tournaments to show for it,” Ramos said. “But I’ve been preaching since I’ve been here to these girls about how hard work will pay off. We made nice strides last year and I think we’re at a point where people are going to start noticing us.”

The speed will obviously be noticed. Smith says she hopes they can add quick to fast in order to be more aggressive defensively.

“Sequoyah for example might match up with our speed but they’re really aggressive,” she said. “If we can combine both, we’ll really be good.”