The roster is full of all-conference talent — they’re just not basketball players.

The Lake Washington High School girls basketball team is an odd mixture of specialties: Last spring, Tori Bivens was the softball MVP, and Marissa Ewald was a first-team selection at first base. This fall, Jen Estes, a freshman, was the Kangs’ leading goalscorer and a first-team selection, and senior Megan McCarthy was an honorable mention.

It’s the product of second-year coach Regi Raban, who skippered the Kangs to a 9-12 finish last season.

“We lost six seniors and a bulk of those were some of our top players, so I knew I was going to need people,” Raban said. “I didn’t have a lot of returning players, so I really put the word out to go get athletes.”

Junior Sydney Olson is among the more-experienced returning players, and is expected to be a leader on the floor this winter. Described as a “gym rat” by Raban, Olson is had success on the AAU circuit.

Senior Olivia Smallman is another experienced returner and a good outside shooter, and junior guard Molly Behrends is the leading scorer among returning players.

The rest is about athleticism and competition — something Raban is hoping will bleed in from the other sports.

“The only expectation for them is just to compete,” Raban said. “Whether we win or lose games is really irrelevant to me right now, it’s whether we compete from beginning to end. If we’re going to go out there and play hard and have that heart and pride for your school, that’s what I’m looking for.”

Raban expects scoring to come by committee rather than one or two players standing out. The Kangs lost a second-team all-conference selection in senior Georgia Romine-Black from last season, along with Hannah Brender and Anne Sealy. Romine-Black and Brender both stood at 6-foot-2, and led the team in scoring with around 10 points apiece.

“The style is going to be a lot different because we lost our post players,” Raban said. “Plus they were good players, not just bigs. This year, we’re going to go a lot more fast-pace, small guard type stuff. We’ll do a lot of pressing, and the emphasis is on defense.”

Kathy Helf is a returning senior, Lindsay Allan is a returning junior and Alexandra Mueller is a freshman. The Kangs lost their opening game to Inglemoor, 51-28, on Dec. 2 and were scheduled to open the conference slate on Wednesday, Dec. 7 against Interlake. Results were not available at press time.

Next, Lake Washington is scheduled to play Sammamish at 6:30 p.m. tonight at Lake Washington High School.