After just missing the district playoffs last season, Catasauqua’s girls’ basketball program has plenty of incentives for making it to the postseason this winter.

For starters, head coach Ed Seidick believes this is his deepest club in his three-year stay with the team. The Roughies likely will be able to go 10 or 11 players deep from a squad that posted an overall 9-13 mark, a six-game improvement from the previous season.

“We’re looking really good,” said Seidick. “We had a very good summer and we’re really optimistic. When we look at the team, we believe we can be as many as 11 players deep. This is the first time since I have been here that we can have our starters go against potential starters in a scrimmage.”

Seidick noted the team can fill the loss of forward Quinn Bachman, who graduated, and Jada Saeger, whose moved into the Northern Lehigh school district.

The Roughies will return a solid core composed of seniors Jade Biviano, Jackie Garner, and Selena Safadi along with junior Kenzie Bradley, all of whom saw significant playing time last season.

Senior JJ Gillespie should also see significant playing time, and sophomore Taylor Richards also figures to see plenty of time.

Junior Anaiya Johnson, a transfer from Bethlehem Catholic, and sophomore Giah Moore also will be in the mix, and juniors Tyra Brown and Madison Emery are expected to see minutes.

“Since we have so many players competing, we have been able to practice at game speed,” added Seidick. “We were very close to districts last year, and we lost some tight games. We managed to surprise some people.

“The girls now realize that they have many opportunities this season, and they know what they have to do to get there.”

The Roughies will open the season Friday facing East Stroudsburg South and opening game of the Tamaqua. They will place either Tamaqua or Lincoln Leadership the following day.

But Catty will get a true test of their mettle in the opening week of league play when they will meet Notre Dame of Green Pond Monday, Northwestern Wednesday, and Southern Lehigh Friday. Overall, they will have eight games under their belts by December 21.

“We’ll have a good test against Notre Dame and Northwestern is always one of the top programs,” said Seidick. “Southern Lehigh also is one of the best programs around. It will be a run to the gauntlet really early for us.”

Still, Seidick’s optimism hasn’t been slowed.

“We expect to get to districts and we believe we can be in the running for the league playoffs,” he stressed. “We have every play we can possibly run in our playbook. This is a team that is hungry and confident to move ahead.”