If there's any lesson that the Battlefield football team's state championship showed to the western Prince William County sports world, it's that a roster full of NCAA Division I-A talent isn't mandatory to win it all.

Heart is.

With the last of Brentsville District's girls basketball superstars from their regional romps graduated, the Tigers start anew this season still knowing fully well how to win.

When their Group AAA counterparts from Battlefield visited Nokesville two weeks ago, the Tigers found themselves in a 15-7 hole at the end of the first quarter only to prevail 46-41 in the end.

"We're relentless," said veteran Kelly Jacobson. "We don't ever give up."

Now in his second season at the helm of the Tigers, head coach Rob Weaver emphasized improvement as his main key for the first half of the season instead of victory. The win against Battlefield marked the team's second in a row to open the season against Group AAA schools, which Weaver intentionally scheduled as a way for the team to get used to facing tough competition early.

"Most AAA schools want to play us and people don't know (another) about my players out here."

For the last two years, Keyla Baltimore provided the star power for Brentsville as an all-region, four-year varsity starter. Now that she's graduated, it's up to the few senior veterans remaining, such as Jacobson, Kelsey Taylor and Stephanie Pratapas to be on-the-court leaders for the Tigers.

Against the Bobcats, the crew demonstrated their knowledge by picking apart Battlefield's approach to the basket.

"We had to push their big men out down low," explained Jacobson. She said that if they could force the Bobcats' forwards to shoot from the outside, her team would have a better shot at grabbing rebounds.

"If we didn't have rebounds..." said Jacobson before Pratapas completed her sentence. "We wouldn't (win)."

Jacobson said that one of the veterans' main jobs is for them to conduct themselves on the floor in a manner that demonstrates to the younger players the proper ways to practice and prepare themselves.

"We definitely run drills," said Jacobson. "When the other girls mess up, it on us."

"They know what to expect," said Weaver.

He highlighted sophomore Zohra Allen as an example of someone who's developed confidence and is ready for the spotlight. Weaver said he told her, "I expect more from you now."

As a whole, Weaver has his team focusing on defense and fundamentals over offense, instead stressing repetition. For instance, he's asked the girls to make 50 shots between five and 10 feet before moving on to other drills.

"What I realized was even if they're no working it, it's the consistency of shooting" that's beneficial. "It's a lot of time working on individual (drills)... step by step."

Weaver mentioned that Pratapas improved her ball-handling skills over the summer to the point where, "we're confident with her shooting jumpshots now."

Jacobson's roll is to be the steady hand at point guard able to guide the Tigers offense, which is what Baltimore used to do. "She's wanted this," said Weaver, adding that she told him, "Okay coach, I want to do this."

Her style is different from Baltimore's, he said, in that "she's a better outside shooter" while Baltimore was more of a "slasher."

Meanwhile, Taylor has "taken the reins as that additional leader."

"When Kelsey Taylor is on, she's phenomenal," said Weaver. Taylor averaged over 16 points a game last season and brought in 33 against Freedom on opening day.

"She is probably the best slasher without the ball," said the coach. "And now she can step out and take the three."