Peabody girls hoop will have lots of new faces

There will be a lot of new faces wearing Peabody colors when the Tanner girls basketball team takes the floor at the Duchane Jamboree and then opens the season on Dec. 14 against Classical.A year ago, Peabody was a senior laden team that won 17 games in the regular season and reached the Division 1 North semis before losing to Central Catholic. If the Tanners are to get back to that point this year, they will have to break in a lot of new faces.”It’s a lot of new faces and we don’t have a lot of height,” Peabody coach Jane Heil said. “But I’m very excited about this group.”The Tanners will have to replace all five starters from last year’s 19 win club and will look to the leadership of senior captains Brittany LaFave, Hannah Simard and Mary Kate Helas to help steady the ship.”Those three have really shown a lot of leadership in practice,” Heil said.Peabody will also be relying on a strong underclass to help take the place of Janelle Rodriguez, Ginny Fleming and company. Freshman sensation Hayley Dowd, a soccer standout, has chosen to run track this winter as well.Katie Brunelle leads the juniors with Ellie Donahue; Val Chiquino; Jackie Goodwin and Taylor Provost also expected to be in the mix. Sophomores Victoria Digiacomo and Kristen Trombley will also be getting time on the floor.”We have a strong group with our underclassmen,” Heil said. “Certainly on paper, its projected to be a huge building year for us.”The Tanners will waste little time wading into the water that is the NEC North as they also face Salem and English right off the bat.”Our league certainly has teams with all their strength back but we are going to try and compete and give it our best shot,” Heil said. “I really expect that we will come on strong as the year goes along.”