Last season, the Warrenton girls' basketball team wasn’t that far from success.

The Warriors finished 13-14 and gave up, on average, just one point per game more than the team scored. Having lost only two seniors, junior guard Sophia Benke said that there isn’t any reason to expect plenty of good things during the 2025-26 season.

“We’re a very athletic team,” Benke said. “Being as fast as we are gives us a chance to be very good.”

Benke, who stands 5-foot-7, is the leading returning scorer from one season ago. She averaged 8.7 points per game and made a team-best 36 3-pointers. She also added 2.3 steals per game.

Warrenton coach Hannah Logan said that the need for Benke to step up and lead the Warriors will be key as she looks for her leader to average double digits to pick up some scoring slack left by players lost to graduation.

“We’re really looking for her to get hot behind the 3-point line,” Logan said. “We need that from her, along with her ability to attack the basket. I’m also expecting more from our other seniors.”

Back to help Benke in terms of point production should be 5-10 senior forward Makayla Witthaus. She returns after averaging 7.6 points and a team-best 6.1 rebounds per game last season.

Witthaus said she’s excited to play one last year with those fellow seniors – 5-7 forward Zoe Duncan, who averaged 4.2 points a game last season and 5-7 guard Savannah Miller, who averaged 1.2 PPG.

“This is a close-knit group and I’ve been playing with these (senior) girls since elementary school,” Witthaus said. “This whole group, the whole team, is like a family, though.”

Logan said that the team, while not boasting the deepest or tallest of rosters, should be competitive each time out.

That’s something that the Warriors will need, the coach said.

“Last year, we lost some tough games early,” said Logan of six single-digit losses, three of which came early in the season. “We’re pretty athletic and I’d like to think very quick. I think that will (make a difference).”

Logan said that quickness will, hopefully, pay dividends on both ends of the floor.

“Our plan is to get stops on defense where we can transition into easy offense, hopefully off steals (leading to) fast breaks to get layups,” Logan said. “One big thing for us to be able to win games this year is that we're going to have to stay out of foul trouble. We don't have a very deep bench, so I've been really stressing the importance of controlling yourself on defense and staying out of foul trouble.

“I am really pushing for is to control the things that we can control,” Logan added. “So, making your free throws is a big one, as is making your layups. Those are all things that you can work on and control yourself. Those are big things that we are focusing on this year, as well as committing fewer than 10 turnovers a game. That hurt us last year at times.”

Logan said that if all these plans come to fruition, there’s no reason to expect big things.

“I think finishing in the top half of the conference should be a goal,” Logan said. “There are two very good teams in the conference that are going to be tougher but that (finish) should be the goal.”

No matter how the results fall, Benke said the team needs to stick together in good times and bad, and if that happens, the season will be a success, regardless of the outcome.

“Of course, we want to win games, but we want to do everything as a team,” Benke said. “If we stay positive, we can hold our heads high and feel good about the results.”