HANNAHVILLE — A new head basketball coach is leading the Hannahville girls this season.

Jen Eagle makes her debut Tuesday when the Soaring Eagles host the Mid Peninsula JVs.

“I’m really excited,” she said. “I’m more excited than nervous. I’ve played basketball my whole life. All we do is watch basketball at home.”

The Soaring Eagles have nine on their roster, including three upperclassmen.

They are 5-foot-9 senior guard Annileece Lofquist, 5-8 senior forward Natalie Manitowabe and 5-6 junior shooting guard-forward Dezirae Lattergrass.

“Our numbers are not very high, and we have some kids out on quarantine,” she said. “We have a young team, although we’re pretty spread out among the grades. We have two seventh-graders playing for the first time. I’m not sure what our lineup is going to look like right now.”

Underclassmen include freshmen Alayna Williams (5-8 forward), Ava Eagle (5-4 point guard), Justine Gurney (5-3 forward) and Shyanna Halfaday (5-3 guard) and eighth-graders Laniceya Malinowski (5-5 guard) and Kirsten LaFave (5-4 guard).

“We have a couple real good dribblers and shooters, and the girls move their feet pretty well,” said Eagle. “A couple players are really quick, and we’ve been driving real well to the basket. I think we’ll build as the season goes on. We want to build a program here. We’ll never turn anyone down. We just want the girls to have fun.”

Following their opener, the Soaring Eagles are idle until Jan. 5 when they travel to Mid Pen.

“We’re hoping to line up a scrimmage with Bark River-Harris,” said coach Eagle. “I think our opener will be fun to watch.”

Coach Eagle points to two-time defending champ Big Bay de Noc as the team to beat in the Northern Lights League.

“They always have a real tough team,” she said. “They definitely have a family out there, and Piper (Jones) is a real strong athlete. Maplewood Baptist is also tough.”

Maplewood Baptist is hosting the NLL tournament at Rudyard this season.

Dec. 7 — Mid Peninsula jayvees.

Jan. 5 — at Mid Peninsula jayvees; Jan. 7-8 — Beaver Island; Jan. 11 — at Carney-Nadeau; Jan. 14-15 — at Mackinac Island; Jan. 18 — Big Bay de Noc; Jan. 21-22 — at Kinross Maplewood Baptist; Jan. 24 — Munising Baptist; Jan. 26 — at Paradise.

Feb. 1 — at Big Bay de Noc; Feb. 3 — Paradise; Feb. 8 — at Munising Baptist; Feb. 11-12 — at Bay Mills Ojibwe Charter; Feb. 25-26 — NLL tournament at Rudyard.