ST. JOSEPH &8212; From the first time this group of girls got on the floor in a game, the talk began at Tensas Academy. One day these girls are going to be something special.

Yet they were only in the fifth grade.

They were all runts back then, save maybe Megan Bauerle, but folks started talking. They were little Tabitha Howard, Aubrey McEacharn, newcomer Caity Rogers and Whitney Alford along with Bauerle, and they were pretty solid back then.

Nothing has really changed since then except for one minor detail &8212; Alford hit her growth spurt later and Bauerle didn&8217;t grow much after that. Here it is seven years later, and they&8217;re still playing together as seniors.

And folks are still talking.

&8220;We did real well our fifth- and sixth-grade years,&8221; Howard recalled. &8220;We pretty much know each other and where everybody is going to be. They were always talking about us when we were young. I was having fun and didn&8217;t think much of it until we got older &8212; we were pretty good and could go far if we put our minds to it.&8221;

They&8217;ve gone far in their careers. They&8217;ve won several games &8212; a combined 95-30 in high school and 149-37 dating back to junior high &8212; and haven&8217;t lost a district games since their freshman year.

The only thing missing, however, is that hardware from the postseason. Two straight fourth-place finishes at state have left them wanting more in their final run.

The Lady Chiefs will open South State at 4 p.m. today against Central School at Glenbrook.

&8220;We come from such a small community, and I think that was big,&8221; Alford said. &8220;We like seeing each other succeed. We want state. That&8217;s been the goal all year. Overall is important, but state is what we want.&8221;

It&8217;s been those five that have made the team go the last four years, especially the last three that ended in trips to the Overall tournament for only the second and third times in school history.

Head coach Chuck Bauerle &8212; Megan&8217;s dad and their coach each season but one &8212; credits their closeness as a big reason why they&8217;ve had success in their careers. That along with good size and athleticism for Class A and a quickness that many teams regardless of class would envy.

They&8217;ve handled the expectations well despite not hoisting the trophy at the end. But that&8217;s something they&8217;re hoping to change, particularly if they can get by Claiborne Academy.

&8220;They haven&8217;t won it all, but they&8217;re represented themselves well over the years,&8221; Chuck Bauerle said. &8220;Other than girl stuff, we&8217;ve never had one &8216;I don&8217;t like you and I don&8217;t want to play with you.&8217; They&8217;re really a close-knit group of girls. What they really do is play hard. You get them to play hard, and that&8217;s all you can ask for.&8221;

That&8217;s how it&8217;s always been at the tiny school where only seven more students round out the school&8217;s graduating class. The group of seniors has stuck together through the good times and bad and really do know each other&8217;s tendencies like their own.

Now is the time to capitalize on that. With their strong defense, better-than-average ball handling and a solid inside game with Alford, it&8217;s worked since the first of the year &8212; last losing at the WCCA tournament to Oak Forest with Howard out.

&8220;We only lost a few games early in the season to AA and AAA teams,&8221; Rogers said. &8220;Since then we&8217;ve been dominating everybody else, especially in district. We get along well, believe it or not, and we&8217;ve been working real well as a team. It&8217;s been really fun. We&8217;re trying harder this year. We won&8217;t have a chance to do it again.&8221;

Yet you ask each of them of the team&8217;s biggest hurdle, and it&8217;s not what anyone says about them or anything with X&8217;s and O&8217;s. It&8217;s the five losses last year to Claiborne and one this season.

Claiborne beat Tensas in the finals of South State last season and in the consolation at state. That came after three losses in the regular season. And don&8217;t forget a loss at Claiborne back in November.

&8220;That&8217;s what all of our fans want us to play again,&8221; Howard said. &8220;We think we can beat them this year. I want to beat them. We just didn&8217;t keep it together there at the end. We want to beat them because it&8217;s our senior year. This year it&8217;s in our minds that we&8217;re going to beat them.&8221;

Not that anyone is looking ahead. The Lady Rebels, champs out of District 8, are on the other side of the bracket and are two games away from a possible matchup with Tensas.

The Lady Chiefs have to get past Central first to claim a spot at the state tournament and beat the River Oaks-Riverdale winner to get to the championship.

&8220;This is the seventh time we&8217;ve had to play them,&8221; Alford said. &8220;We&8217;ve lost to them six. Hopefully the seventh time is the charm. We&8217;ve played them close each time. We would defend their offense real well. I don&8217;t know. They seem to play their best against us.&8221;

Their chances may be better now with a flourishing inside game and Howard back from a broken nose. She&8217;ll have to play with a mask on from here on out.

And there&8217;s the pressure of knowing it&8217;s their last chance to do it.

&8220;We had Senior Night last week, and it didn&8217;t sink in,&8221; Megan Bauerle said. &8220;I&8217;m excited. We&8217;ve had a long time to jell together. We hope to play Claiborne again, but we plan on finishing the deal this time. We&8217;re not going to leave it unfinished.&8221;

It&8217;ll give everyone something to talk about well after this group graduates and goes their separate ways. Megan&8217;s dad has been there every step of the way except one &8212; their freshman year when they moved up from junior high to varsity under then-coach Thomas Crigler.

It almost wouldn&8217;t be fair to measure their success by how many state championships won, he said.

But it sure would be nice.

&8220;It&8217;s hard to believe,&8221; Chuck Bauerle said. &8220;They haven&8217;t won it all, but that&8217;s a lot of pressure on a team expected to win than those not expected to win. They&8217;ve had a lot expected of them.

&8220;They haven&8217;t won a state title, but maybe this will be their year. Who knows?&8221;