Hoping to make its fourth straight appearance in the UIL 5A state championship game, the basketball team begins its 2021-2022 season Friday at 7:00 p.m. when they travel to South Grand Prairie High School.

“We have been preparing since last March or last April, and the way we do things is kind of a 12 month scale,” head girls basketball coach Ross Reedy said. “When we get into the year, as you come back to school, get into August, September, October a lot, that is ok we see these pieces, these players and what they have developed in their games and start trying to put that together.”

Committing to Rice on Tuesday, senior Jazzy Owens-Barnett echoes her head coach about the team’s preparation for Friday’s season opening game. 

“We prepare from the first day of school to the last day of school for each season every single time, so being able to just scrimmage is really just giving us more players to play, I would say,” Owens said. “ But other than that I think we prepare all the time like before the season even really starts, so I know we are prepared for the season right now.” 

After making it to the state final three years in a row, Reedy says getting there isn’t the main goal, more consistency is the aim. 

“I mean obviously every year you want to play for as long as you are able to play and that is getting to the state championship,” Reedy said. “Which we have been able to do for the past three years and four of the past six years. But there are a lot of good teams so saying stuff like that is kind of  ridiculous. And so we just want to be able to put out a product that is one at a high level and consistent so we can be at a high level and be able to play long into the year.”