Taking over the coaching reins for the Fox Chapel Area High School girls' basketball team, the transition should be a smooth one for first-year coach Rich Mull.

Four returning starters are back for the Foxes this season, including junior forward Heidi Goeller who was one of the top rebounders and scorers on the team last year.

Goeller is joined in the starting lineup by other returning starters, Holly Bourquin, Lauren Kolod and Jenny Papich. All the returning starters except Papich are seniors. Other seniors on the roster include guard Katelyn Petraglia and Mallory Koch.

"That is the big thing, they do have the experience but even more importantly, the leadership, too," Mull said.

"Those five seniors have been with the program for a long time and they set a good example."

Fox Chapel opened the season with a 37-31 win over Pine-Richland in the Fox Chapel tournament. The Foxes lost to Hampton, 45-38, Monday for the tournament championship.

Mull has been away from coaching basketball for a few years. He last coached in 2006 as the girls' head coach at Plum. He got a late start on the season because he was hired in mid-August. The girls still got to play together in the summer either on AAU teams or in summer leagues.

"Some people volunteered [to coach] and we are really appreciative of that," Mull said. "It was a late hire but if we didn't have some girls with experience, we would really be in trouble.

"Overall I think the transition has been pretty good so far. Basketball is basketball, the terminology is a little bit different. How we do things is a little different and there is a learning curve there, but we just have to make sure everybody is on the same page."

Mull is familiar with Section 2-AAAA after his coaching time at Plum, another Section 2-AAAA school. Penn Hills and Oakland Catholic should provide the toughest tests in section play for Fox Chapel with McKeesport and Gateway also in the mix.

Papich, one of the returning starters is recovering from an injury to her right wrist. In her place junior guard Sarah D'Amico and sophomore guard Lindsay McKamish have stepped in.

A pair of juniors, Eve Kedzierski and Taylor Drawbaugh, are both capable of playing either guard or forward and Mull expects them to see minutes along with sophomore Maria Ricci.

Even with the other three returning starters and a talented deep bench, other teams will be keying on Goeller and Fox Chapel will lean on her for a majority of the team's scoring.

"She is a hard worker and that might sound very simple but she is just a team player," Mull said.

"She is the type of kid who understands everyday at practice you want to work to get a little better. She is very coachable and she is a leader. I would say that about a lot of the seniors. They are leaders and coachable. They want to do well."

Last season under former coach Jeremy Bennett, Fox Chapel finished 17-8 and went 10-2 in the section to share the section crown with Woodland Hills. It was the program's first section title since 1984. In the first round of the playoffs, the Foxes fell to Peters Township, 38-35. Peters Township ended up reaching the WPIAL title game.

Fox Chapel also defeated Oakland Catholic, 45-28, last season. It was the first time the Foxes had knocked off the Class AAAA power in eight attempts.

"In a way last season is something you want to carry over but by the same token you can't think about that," Mull said.

"It's a new season and the other teams in the section are not going to care about last year. They will think about this year. No one can take that away from you, but this year we really have to be focused on one practice a time and one game at a time."

Fox Chapel opens section play tomorrow night when it plays host to McKeesport.