For Highland High School seniors Dylan and Dakota Gonzalez the 2012-13 season is the duo’s final chance to win the elusive 5A state girl’s basketball title they have been chasing.

    After committing to Kansas over the summer, the pair is focused on bringing a championship back to Highland.

    In his third season as head coach, Tony Green has the most experienced team in his tenure with six seniors, and one of the deepest teams he has coached as all 11 players will be asked to contribute.

    This year’s Highland team will have a different look to it. Gone are Jessica Sargent, Abigail Olsen and most notably, point guard Timmie Bowie. In their place Green will need to find players to fill those roles. But it is no secret that if the Rams are to be successful, the Gonzalez twins will be heavily relied upon.

    “The biggest thing that people ask me is how we are going to be different,” Green said. “I don’t quite know how we are going to be, to be honest. We lost Timmie, Abigail and Jessica, two starters and our first player off the bench. But we have good sophomore girls up on varsity that can help us, and we have some juniors that are trying to find their role.”

    One of the juniors is guard Makenzie Van Sickle who appears to be the leading candidate to take over for Bowie.

    “We challenged all of our players,” Green said. “Timmie led us in assists and was one of our best shooters, but we challenged them. I still want Makenzie to be Makenzie and still want Dakota to be Dakota. I don’t want them to come in and try to be Timmie. We want them to be their own players and everybody else chip in.”

    When healthy, Van Sickle was a spark of the bench with her shooting and ball handling ability. This season she will be looked at to do the same, but in a starting role.

    Also look for senior Megan Reed to see significant minutes during the season.

    Another player entering the starting lineup is senior Bailey Harding.

    Harding came of the bench as a junior but with graduation of Sargent she will come in and do a lot of the same things Sargent did, namely provide leadership and solid defense.

    “We are looking at a collective effort to bring the defensive pressure,” Green said. “We are looking at junior Katie Denny to come in a be our sixth man. But it is so early that we don’t really know who that is going to be yet.”

    During the Rams’ jamboree with Bear Lake and Burley Wednesday, Green experimented with lineups to see if anyone would establish themselves. After 32 minutes of playing time, it’s tough to make those decisions.

    “I think the biggest thing for us is getting the kids to buy into our system and getting some senior leadership,” Green said. “This is the biggest senior class since I have been here. I am excited and interested to see who takes the roles we need filled. I like our pieces. It is going to be a fun year to coach.”

    Senior Jamiece Yizar is going to be the fifth starter for the Rams this season. Also, expect to see a lot of Ryanne Snow and Reece Bauer.

    But everything for the Rams starts with the Gonzalez twins. As they go, so goes the team.

    The sisters will be asked to do what they have done for each of the last three seasons — be the leaders and main scoring options.

    “They know this is their last chance to win a title,” Green said. “We have not talked about goals yet, but I told them to show me in practice what they want and I will coach them that way.”

    The schedule will also challenge the Rams, especially with a trip to Coeur d’Alene in the not too distant future.

    Highland has struggled with CDA in each of the last two state tournaments, and Green found a way for the Rams to play the Vikings before the state tournament.

    “This is going to be a good trip for us,” Green said. “We really need to play them and see where we stand.”

    For the Rams to have another solid year, defense will set the tone.

    If you have seen Highland in the last few years then you have no doubt seen the full-court pressure defense played by the team.

    The pressure forces teams into turnovers and leads to fast breaks on the offensive end. Expect to see much of the same this year.

    The Rams kick off the quest for a state title Saturday when they travel to Bonneville. Tip-off is scheduled for 1:30 p.m.

    “We have a lot of work to do and I think the girls understand that,” Green said. “If they understand that we have a lot of work to do then they will come with that mentality. We have to get better to achieve our goals.”