The 2012-13 Lancaster Bible women's basketball team reached the pinnacle of the North Eastern Athletic Conference mountain as they won the program's first-ever NEAC Championship with a 67-63 victory over Keuka.

Fast-forward a little more than eight months as the 2013-14 edition of the Lancaster Bible women's basketball team prepares to defend last season's title and everything that goes along with it. With a target on their back as the defending champion, the Chargers and head coach Doug Helsel expect to get everyone's best game because they want to take down the champion.

"It's a challenge to wear the bull's eye as the conference champion and that's something we are going to have to figure out early on in the season," Helsel said. "We must play as a team expecting to win every game, not from an overly confident perspective, but as a refusal to excuse losing."

Another early season test will come in the form of gelling as a cohesive unit. The Chargers practiced with five or six players for much of October and early November as they awaited the fall sports season to end, as Sarah Heilenman, Kirsten Webster, Meaghan Williams, Christy Lorah and Alyssa Wesner all played soccer, while Aubrey Folger played volleyball.

"It's hard to say how we will handle the success of last season because we just haven't practiced enough together yet," Helsel said.

Starters, Brooklyn Wilson (10.0 ppg., 3.2 apg., 2.7 rpg.), Folger (16.0 ppg., 9.2 rpg., 3.0 spg.) and Heilenman (8.9 ppg., 6.1 rpg.) return this season, while key bench players, Richelle Kane, Emily Martz and Meaghan Williams are also back. Those six returners will be joined by six newcomers, highlighted by junior Shanice Smith and sophomore Katy Stover. Smith played one game last season before a season-ending injury sidelined her, while Stover joins the Chargers after a solid freshman campaign at Averett University in Danville, Virginia. 

"I think Shanice brings a lot to our team and will be able to take over games at times," Helsel said. "Katy will be a huge asset for us and we are already seeing people perform better than expected for being so young, specifically Marissa Ness."

Last year's team had a winning record at Christmas break for just the third time in the past decade and Helsel knows that despite the amount of practice time as unit during the preseason, the team will have to play well early on.

"It's difficult to expect instant execution, but we've been talking about urgency this week as our early-season schedule recently became a much greater challenge," Helsel said. "We play three NEAC games prior to the break and they are always important. We have to be ready, that's the bottom line."

The difficulty of the early-season schedule Helsel spoke of relates to the Eastern Mennonite Tip-Off Invitational this weekend. The Chargers were originally to play Cairn and Chatham, but due to unforeseen circumstances, Cairn had to back out of the tournament recently which through the schedule for a loop. The tournament was reorganized and the Chargers will now face two difficult opponents in Penn St. Fayette and host Eastern Mennonite.

With just two seniors on this season's team, like last year, the Chargers will once again look to the elder statesmen of the team for guidance and rely on the young guns to carry much of the offensive load.

"Brooklyn has really been a leader, both on the court and off of it," Helsel said. "Rightly so, she has gained the respect of her teammates for her work ethic and her attitude. That being said, I expect them all to be leaders."

Despite the lack of playing time together this preseason, Helsel said the goals of the team will remain the same as in years past, but with a little twist due to the new personnel mixing with the returners.

"We want to play in the NEAC Final and play everyone due to our balance of talent," Helsel said. "We want to dominate on defense and execute on offense and in general play well as a team at all times."

In addition to the opening games with Penn St. Fayette and Eastern Mennonite, the Chargers will also play traditionally-tough Eastern and Penn St. Harrisburg prior to Christmas Break as well. All three of Lancaster Bible's NEAC contests prior to Christmas Break will be at home as the Chargers welcome Penn St. Abington (Nov. 26), Wilson (Dec. 3) and Cazenovia (Dec. 6) to Horst Athletic Center.

For the second consecutive year, the Chargers will also face NCAA Division II member Wilmington (Del.) as Lancaster Bible will face the Wildcats on Jan. 6 at Horst Athletic Center. Lancaster County neighbor Elizabethtown will return to Horst Athletic Center on Jan. 13 as the Chargers look to avenge one of their worst losses of last season as the Blue Jays won, 80-53 in Elizabethtown, Pa.

The Chargers will play 16 NEAC games this season as their final 11 games will be against NEAC foes. Lancaster Bible will take on NCCAA East Region rival Valley Forge Christian at The Pit in Phoenixville, Pa. on Jan. 20 at 7 p.m.

Please click on the schedule link and come cheer on the Chargers this season and be sure to visit the roster page and learn more about each student-athlete. You can also follow all of the action this season on Twitter, @LBCathletics.