FAIRMONT – When the Fairmont girls basketball lineup tips off the 2016-17 campaign by playing host to Worthington tonight at Cardinal Gym, Cardinal eighth-year mentor Don Waletich hopes to reverse last season’s early results.

Unfortunately, Waletich’s youthful 2015-16 roster lost its first three games en route to a 3-6 record prior to New Year’s Day.

“Last season, we only had two seniors returning, and it took a while to create team chemistry early on,” said Waletich, who lost Sentinel All-Area co-player of the year Courtney Mosloski and All-Area selection Haley Harder to graduation. “We’re really young again – with five juniors and six sophomores, and no seniors on the roster, but we’re hoping to have a better start due to returning a number of players with a couple years of varsity experience under their belts.”

Waletich anticipates that Worthington’s lineup will be similar to his personnel when the two Big South Conference rivals clash at 7:30 p.m. tonight in Fairmont.

“It should be a competitive game, so it’ll be good to see where we’re at right out of the gate,” said Waletich.

Junior guard Brooke Hunwardsen, along with the sophomore trio of forward Taylor Crissinger, guard/forward Abby DeWitt and point guard Lexi Lunn, all return to the hardwood court after logging quality minutes over the past two seasons.

“We’ll lean on those four players heavily to begin with. They’ve evolved into leaders on and off the court for us,” said Waletich.

The 6-foot Crissinger steps onto the floor for her third varsity campaign on the heels of a solid freshman year consisting of about eight points and seven rebounds per outing.

“Taylor’s a bit of a hybrid player for us in that she can handle the basketball, shoot from the perimeter and post up, too,” said Waletich.

Lunn and DeWitt, a pair of 5-6 speedsters, will handle breaking opposing presses after averaging around six and seven points per game, respectively, with Lunn distributing three assists.

The scrappy 5-5 Hunwardsen contributed five points per game, but her full-court hustle and defensive prowess proved invaluable.

Waletich will look for twins Claire Cutler and Brenna Cutler – a pair of 6-foot juniors – along with 6-2 junior Alli Lardy and 6-0 junior Mallory Mosloski to literally be impact players in the low blocks this winter.

“All four of our bigs saw some time at the varsity level a year ago, so we’re looking for some solid play from them in the frontcourt,” Waletich said. “After those eight, the next four or five spots will be wide open, and it could be a rotation of a number of players.”

While Waletich and the Cardinals hope to tip off November and December with a better record than a year ago, the veteran Fairmont mentor’s main goal is to be working in sychronization by the time the sectional playoffs roll around.

Ironically, Fairmont did exactly that last season by winning five of its final six games, including a 61-41 Section 2AA, South Sub-Section quarterfinal triumph over Medford, before losing to Waterville-Elysian-Morristown in the sub-section semifinals, 46-41.

“So far, our practices have looked good. It’s nice to have girls who know what to expect, work hard and know our system,” said Waletich. “Hopefully, we can pick up this season where we left off during the latter stages of the regular season last year.”

Waletich anticipates St. Peter and Blue Earth Area being two of the top competitors in the Section 2AA postseason, along with two-time defending champion Norwood Young America, who holds the No. 8 spot in the Minnesota AP’s Class AA preseason rankings.