The official start to girls’ basketball practice for the 2017-18 season in Iowa was yesterday. Greene County head coach Dean Lyons and assistant Jeff Lamoureux have plenty of girls out for the sport. More than half of the more than 30 girls at Monday’s practice are freshmen.

The Rams went 4-18 last season and were 3-13 in the Heart of Iowa Activities Conference. Senior guard Laurin Lyons led the team in scoring as a junior and was an honorable mention all-conference selection. Nevada won the conference title last season in basketball and PCM (Monroe) was the runner-up. Both qualified for the State Tournament.

Lyons averaged 8.3 points for a Rams team that put up just 32.4 points per game. Senior Samantha Hardaway averaged 3.3 points, with senior Onica Delp at 2.8 and senior Ashley Millard at 1.7. The other returning players averaged less than one point per game. Lyons was also the top rebounder for the Rams last season at five per contest.

Greene County officially opens the girls’ basketball season on Monday, November 27 at Ogden.