Demorest, GA -- After a night of madness that spurred the interest in the Piedmont basketball programs, the Lady Lion basketball program is looking to return their head coach to a place that she has been before - holding a piece of conference championship hardware and headed to a NCAA National Tournament.  With championship experience to her name, Head Coach Jamie Purdy has plenty of work to do before reaching that moment at the end of the season as she must replace three of her top four players in minutes played last season.

Purdy will have plenty of options to help fill the gaps left by the class of 2013 as eight new Lady Lions will don the green and gold this winter as the 2013-14 roster has just one senior listed.  However, that one senior has much to offer a squad full of youngsters who will see their first collegiate action this season as it is none other than Lauren Hamel, the last remaining player from Piedmont's NCAA tourney run in 2010-11. 

"We are fortunate to have Lauren Hamel back for another season," said Purdy of her senior leader. "Lauren actually graduated in three years with a GPA just shy of a 4.0. Thankfully she decided to continue her education in the graduate program and complete her fourth year of competition.  We are grateful for Lauren's leadership and the example she sets on the court and in the classroom."

Hamel is well aware of the obstacles her young teammates face this season as she was but a freshman herself in the 2010-11 season playing with several underclassmen like herself as the guard helped her team claim a conference title to the surprise of the league upsetting the tourney's #2 seed in the LaGrange Panthers, a team which finished as the highest scoring team in Division III that year. 

As a first-year player on that championship team, Hamel saw first hand what it takes to play championship basketball at the collegiate level - knowledge she is hoping to pass on to her young teammates who will play in legendary Cave Arena for the first time this coming Saturday. 

One of those seeing action for the first time as a Lady Lion will be Hiwassee native Gabby Arencibia who brings accolades galore to her Piedmont career.  A four-time All-Region selection and member of the 1,000-point club during her time at Towns County High School, Arencibia set the Georgia state record for most three-pointers made in a career and was named the Region Player of the Year as a senior earning All-State honors for the second time in her career.

Arencibia also holds the state record for most three-pointers made in a game and helped her high school team to state playoff appearances in all four years of her high school career while also taking three region championships in that same time frame. Included in her team's four state playoff appearances was a trio of Sweet 16 runs to end her time at Towns County while Arencibia also took her team to the Elite 8 once - as a freshman with the Lady Indians.

The youngster hopes to add that same championship pedigree to a team needing leadership from its youth as well as contributions early, a role Arencibia will need to embrace as the Lady Lions look to replace more than 40% of its scoring from last season after the departure of 2012-13 senior contributors Alyssa Jones, Lauren Anderson, and Kiki Thompson.

"As always, we love seeing student-athletes graduate from our program and move own with their lives in the workforce," said Purdy of her three seniors from last season. "However it always comes with a price. We are certainly sad to see Alyssa, Lauren, and Kiki leave. They were key components to our program during their 4-years at Piedmont. They are tough shoes to fill. With that said, we have a strong freshmen class that I feel is ready and willing to take on the challenge."

The challenge Purdy speaks of will come in a familiar form before the Lady Lions open the USA South portion of their 2013-14 season as Piedmont will play five of its nine non-conference contest against foes from the Southern Athletic Association beginning with Centre College this weekend.  Purdy is hoping that the heightened competition level prior to starting league play will help the young Lady Lions grow up enough to be ready to navigate 16 straight conference games to end the season.

"The SAA opponents will be a good challenge for us," said Purdy. "Our conference is tough. It will be a hard fight to get in the top 8. Playing tough competition early on will only help prepare us for what's to come in January when we start conference play."

Purdy knows that her team's challenge will be early on in the season though the veteran head coach is not worried about the timeline of her team's development as she's well aware of the process of cultivating championship teams as the coach has taken three different teams to conference titles and NCAA National Tournaments.  After having such success throughout her time at Piedmont, Purdy is well aware that it doesn't happen overnight.

"It will take time for us to develop the team chemistry and leadership our three seniors from 2012-13 offered but I'm confident it will come soon."

One factor to speed up that development may be the safety of friendly confines as the Lady Lion basketball team will make its debut in front of the home fans at Cave Arena this Saturday, November 16th with Centre College coming to town.  Tipoff in the contest is set for 2:00 pm.  Live coverage will be available for those who can't make it to the Cave on Saturday courtesy of the Mane Event Broadcasting Network with audio coverage also provided by WCON and WRFP.