St. Mary has a host of seniors on its roster, but only two have significant experience playing on a varsity squad.

New coach Jim Smith will be depending on the pair to help lead the Eagles in the 2007-08 season, which begins in a home-opener against Buckley Monday night.

“I hope to build on a solid foundation left by Stan Pasch,” said Smith, a St. Mary parent from Glen Arbor.

Smith’s coaching experience included time at the junior varsity and middle school levels at Lake Leelanau. and at the fifth and sixth grade levels at Glen Lake.

Although the switch of the girls’ basketball season from fall to winter has put practice time at a premium throughout the county, it doesn’t appear to have negatively impacted the kickoff of the basketball season for the Eagles.

“Everyone saw (the change coming). It’s just something we deal with,” Smith explained.

“We have about 30 fewer minutes at practice each day. But we’re making the best use of the time we do have.”

Returning from the 2006-07 team are seniors Matt Pasch and Ryan Korson, who both have a good deal of experience. Other members of the Class of 2008 on the St. Mary varsity are Ryan Couturier, Patrick Arena, David O’Connor, Gabe Gallagher and Ben Hughes.

Also expected to see time on the court are several members of a feisty junior varsity team which finished 13-4 last season. They include Kienan Sutton, Adam Peplinski, Brian Kalchik, Tim Wigton and Eric Smith, the coach’s son.

The conference configuration has changed dramatically with Leland and Buckley now competing in the Northwest Conference. That leaves St. Mary, Leelanau School, Northport and Traverse City Christian to compete for a Cherryland crown. Smith believes Christian will be the team to beat in the Cherryland.

“They are always able to produce a good, competitive group of athletes,” he said.

St. Mary will be tested several times in early season play. The Eagles play eight games in December, including road games on Dec. 6 at Suttons Bay and Dec. 21 at Leland, and at the St. Francis Tournament Dec. 28-29.