FAIRBANKS, Alaska (KTVF) -It’s now the time of the year when University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) basketball squads begin hitting the courts, and the women’s team rung in the new season on Saturday with the annual Blue and Gold Game.

After last year’s struggles, the coaching staff got to work in the offseason and brought in veteran presence and young talent. This year’s squad features seven new faces, with two freshman and five transfers putting on the blue and gold for the first time over the weekend, and Head Coach Amy Donovan said that bodes well for the team’s bench.

“Right now, we have so much more depth I think than I’ve ever had being here just one through more like nine or 10 instead of one through six or seven,” she said.

Despite the roster’s overhaul, Donovan is hopeful that comradery will be a thread that runs throughout her team’s season.

“None of them are worried about their points average. They are talking about how they want to distribute the ball and set their teammates up,” the head coach said.

A test of chemistry between two of the team’s primary ball handlers — senior guards Destiny Reimers and Taylor Pilot — was also on display in Saturday’s scrimmage, with both players donning the white jersey.

Reimers was third in per-game scoring for the Nanooks last season at 9.9 PPG, also coming in second for assists with 72. Pilot is one of the five new transfers on UAF’s roster this year. She joined the team from California State University Stanislaus. Although the pair had a couple turnovers Saturday, they linked up with promising regularity, and Pilot showed versatility, both driving to the basket and feeding teammates from the outside.

The scrimmage served as a trial run for the new look Nanooks. They enter the season ranked ninth out of 10 teams in a Great Northwest Athletic conference preseason poll after finishing last season with a 4-23 record.

The squad allowed 73.6 points per game on average last year, scoring 59.1 of their own. Donovan said she’s running a new defensive system this year that will likely be a “work-in-progress” throughout the season, but she was optimistic about the Nanooks’ offensive display during the Blue and Gold game.

“I haven’t seen us able to score the ball the way that we did,” she said post-game.

Only time will tell how the Nanooks fare this season, but the countdown is on as the women’s team approaches their first game against Cal Poly Humboldt in Sacramento, California, on Nov. 8.