 The 2009-2010 Bemidji Girls basketball season was a magical one. The Lumberjacks went 25-2 with a state tournament appearance, but since they've been in a bit of turmoil, the Jax haven't had a winning season since then and have only had double digit wins once in that span. But now they have a brand new attitude to go along with a brand new coach determined on turning them around. Steve Schreiber knows the situation he's walking into as he begins his first season as head coach of the Lumberjacks. I'm not expecting to step in here and all of a sudden turn us from an 8 and 18 team into a state champion in a year. You know, that's like a movie ending, you know, it doesn't happen that often in real life. But he isn't shy when he talks about where he thinks this program can go in the future. I really think that we can be a contender next year and for sure the year after and that starts with putting the building blocks down and then kind of building on top of that. Schreiber says they're not focusing on the number in the win column just yet. We might get 6, we might get 8, we might get 12, we might get 16. But he and the team believe the rebuild of the program has already begun. There's no negativity, it's all, let's get the job done, what job do you want us to get done and we're going to work to get it done. He's just really helped us out and we've really systematically gone through getting into that new system and being positive with each other and everybody's just been really great. Only three weeks into the season, the Jax are 2-1. All three games have been decided by 9 points or less. The team knows they have all the physical tools to compete with anyone. But if they want to continue to succeed, it's going to come down to their mental toughness. They're not used to defensive rotations where we're really rotating girls around to get them into help side and to help the helper and then having to think through the offensive system that we're running. So it's going to come down to some physical conditioning but I really think it's going to come down to mental conditioning as well. So close on so many things and just that extra step to be able to get in the right place at the right time and as soon as we figure out that time and we're going to be set. And if they can continue to mature and grow as a team, they believe they're going to be a fun group to watch. They know how to win basketball. We just need to come together as a group and put it together and we're going to win basketball. If you've enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News, please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to Lakeland Public Television.