LAKEVILLE - As Nicholas Amor returns as head girls basketball at LaVille High School, there are some things he knows coming into the 2025-26 season. In a 15-8 season a year ago, Amor admits his club didn't shoot the basketball that well and that they graduated four, including key players on the floor. And on the first day of practice, the fourth year skipper had some things to challenge the 2025-26 team. When Amor was hired to start the 2022-23 season, the top two goals for each season would be "having a successful winning season and sectional and Bi-County always at the top of the list. "We’ve talked about a higher shooting percentage," continued the 2013 LaVille High School graduate. "We were constantly in the 30s, sometimes in the 20s last year. It's hard to win basketball games with that percentage. With this group, I’ve got scorers. It's just a matter of can they stay healthy and can they stay engaged on the floor. That is one of our main goals. Our second goal always is to have a successful winning season. Go out and compete. We want to get to the point where LaVille girls basketball is not a team where they see us and go, oh that is an easy win. Even if they end up winning. We want them to never feel like it is an easy win against LaVille." Amor, who is 46-27 entering his 4th season in Lakeville, also knows that "We lost 4 seniors from last year." The Lancers graduated leading scorer and rebounding - Brooke Edison. Edison averaged 13.4 points per game, 7.8 rpg, and the top sniper with 5.8 steals per outing. Also gone is LaVille's second leading scorer and second leading rebounder, Jasmine Foster along with Mackena Deason, who hit the most 3-point shots, and point guard Mikelah Kuskye, who was third on the team in assists and as the player with the most touches on the ball, had the least amount of turnovers. As the Lancer skipper scans his 25-26 roster, he sees some experience and some rookies, as well. "We’ve got two returning varsity players in Madi Singleton and Ava Weil," quipped the LaVille coach. "And we have a third senior that sat out all year last year with a shoulder injury - Faith Mejer. She had a really strong sophomore year on the JV and she was probably going to get quite a few varsity minutes last year. She just unfortunately had the injury. I would look out for her and she is probably going to be a pretty good scoring option for us. "Then Denni Markin is going to be a junior and she was a multiple games leading scorer for us or at least in that top three last season." After a 3-2 start a year ago, LaVille ripped off 10 of 11 victories before a disappointing 49-43 loss to North Judson-San Pierre. LaVille finished with 15 wins, which is the most since 19 victories just two years ago. LHS was eliminated by rival Bremen in the IHSAA sectional at Knox. "The desire is there," chimed Amor. "There is one looming school that continuously knocks us off the podium. (A couple of weeks ago) Our girls soccer team played Bremen in the regional … gets knocked off the podium. Our girls volleyball team plays Bremen in the sectional (on the same night as soccer sectional), and gets knocked off the podium. We played Bremen last season in the sectional championship last year, and we got knocked off the podium." In 2025-26, Amor also knows that his team has, "... six players that are definite. I have 15 total but one has an ankle right now. So I have 8 other players - 5 freshmen and 3 sophomores. So we are young." And with scorers, rebounders, 3 point shooters, and a point guard vacancy, Amor looks for others that would like to step up. "As far as there will be freshmen playing on the varsity? Do I know who yet, no. It’s just a matter of how practice looks and who wants to step up and fill the role." And does Amor care if freshmen are playing on the varsity? "No actually I don’t," Amor said when talking about six freshman players within the program. "There is more energy in the gym, there is excitement. It gives the older girls a sense of purpose to lead. I enjoy having that big freshman class." As far as the veterans on the team returning with that little extra pep. "I would say that Faith Mejer has come in with a spark," noted Amor. "Just having to sit out a whole year with her shoulder, she is just a gym rat. She goes to the 'Y' up in South Bend, she goes to the Kroc Center. She’s playing with the boys. She just loves the game. Having a kid like that ..." As we chatted about the team and upcoming season, we got to talking about the Indiana Northern State Conference and where Amor see's things off the top. "I think Bremen is probably up at the top," explained Amor. "I think Glenn has a really good, strong freshman class that is coming in, but they are very similar to us in that they have some experience but they are young. And they have to find that line too. Then you have Tippecanoe Valley that is in that line too. They’ve got some experience but they are young. "So I feel like us, Glenn and Tippy are gonna be in that category of who is going to knock Bremen off? Bremen is going to have to play all season, looking over their shoulder, which is a tough spot to be in. They’ve got a lot of potential to reach, but sometimes when you have a lot of potential it creates a lot of pressure and it's almost better to be the underdog. From that sense, that is where the top part of the conference is. I think that Shaunte (Calhoun) will have a hard working, young Jimtown team but they struggle with numbers. And I think they will be competitive just because I think highly of her as a coach. And I think that Knox is a wildcard. We played Knox one time last year and it went really well for us. Then we played them the second time and it was like Knox could potentially beat us. You just never really know. They have athletes and they could knock some people out this year." We then hit on losing their point guard, leading scorers and leading rebounders, and Amor is simply asking everyone to step up. "I think it's going to come from our returning varsity letterwinners, Ava and Denni," Amor said about the scoring aspect. "I think that they are going to have to really step up especially defensively and on the boards. As far as points, I think that Faith and Denni are going to come in and I think they are going to end up being our leading scorers. They’ve shown a lot of promise from the summer and in practice. We are going to be a different team this year. We won’t be the same Lancers that we have been in the past. I think you have to adapt to the kids that you have, you can’t just stick to what you continue to do and force the kids to fit your mold. You have to change your style. "You challenge your freshmen," the Lancer coach said about the point guard spot. "You challenge your freshmen to guard your better kids in practice. You challenge them to bring the ball up the court even when they don’t feel comfortable doing it. You look for anyone that is just going to play with some grit and you figure out how to get them there. I haven’t found that person yet, but if you find that person let me know. It’s going to be tough. We’ve had conversations that if Ava Weil gets in foul trouble, who is going to bring the ball up for us? It might be Denni Markin. She’s probably our next best ball handler. We might have to slow the game down, but it's going to have an impact, so we’ll see. I think five games in we’ll probably have an idea, but right now we just don’t know." As we closed our time, Amor said confidently, "We’ve got a lot of athletic girls. We've got a lot of quick even big girls. So I’m going to put a lot of ball pressure and utilize speed and make teams uncomfortable and don’t let them just easily walk the ball down the floor. And push my girls to be an identity."