AHSAA basketball teams can officially begin play on Thursday with many opening the season at some point over the next week.

There’s a familiar group of teams competing for championships with some notable exceptions and there are plenty of stars on those teams and others.

Below are some of the top storylines heading into the season for girls basketball.

KEY 2023-2024 DATES

Nov. 2: First official games

Feb. 2-7: AHSAA girls area tournaments

Feb. 7-9: AISA state final four tournament at Cramton Bowl Multiplex

Feb. 9: AHSAA girls sub-regionals

Feb. 14-22: AHSAA Regionals (Central-Bill Harris Arena, South-Garrett Coliseum, Northeast Jacksonville State, Northwest-Wallace-Hanceville)

Feb. 26-March 2: AHSAA state finals (Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center)

THE STREAKS

Class 6A Hazel Green has won a state-best six straight championships while Class 4A Prattville Christian has three straight (2021 and 2022 in Class 3A).

TOP TEAMS

Last season’s AHSAA champions were Class 7A Hoover, Class 6A Hazel Green, Class 5A Pleasant Grove, Class 4A Prattville Christian, Class 3A Trinity, Class 2A Mars Hill Bible and Class 1A Spring Garden.

Class 7A

Three-time defending champion Hoover is always a threat under coach Krystle Johnson, but this season’s group is young.

Key players are 6-foot-3 sophomore Khloe Ford (lots of D1 interest) and seventh-grader Kristen Winston, also with early big-college interest.

Look for last year’s runnerup Sparkman and Bob Jones along with Vestavia Hills, Hewitt-Trussville, Foley, Auburn, Daphne, Davidson and Chelsea to contend this season.

Class 6A

It’s Hazel Green’s playground and others are pretenders until the six-time defending champion loses the title… or even loses a game to an instate team not named Hoover.

This group of Trojans will be formidable with Alabama commit Leah Brooks along with Sydney Steward (Faulkner commit), Amiya Redus (Shorter commit), Zyriah Price and Kelsi Andrews.

Hazel Green will play a tough schedule, including the Nike Tournament of Champions in Phoenix, She Got Game Classic in Washington, D.C. and She Got Game Classic in Rome, Ga.

Other contenders include Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa, Oxford, Huffman, Mortimer Jordan, Mountain Brook, Shades Valley and Parker.

Class 5A

Pleasant Grove won its first state championship last season and the Spartans are poised to finish strong again.

Last year’s MVP Tamya Smith, a 6-foot Memphis commit with good touch, will lead the Spartans.

Arab, last season’s runnerup, had no seniors on its roster and will contend as will always-tough Charles Henderson under new coach LaKenya Knight. Others include Jasper, Brewbaker Tech, Eufaula, Ramsay and Madison Academy.

Class 4A

Defending champion Prattville Christian lost the strength of its inside game with graduated 5-11 CoCo Thomas and 6-2 Hannah Jones.

Returning senior guard Avery Rogers will take an even bigger role this season while 6-4 junior post Jenna McClendon will fill the middle.

Eight-time champion Deshler returns senior point guard Raegan Rickard while freshman Reece Davis already has offers from Alabama and Auburn.

Final four teams UMS-Wright and New Hope will be strong again.

UMS-Wright returns three starters from a 30-win season, including senior Noel Freeman, while New Hope has guard Kaylee Yarbrough to lead the way.

Other contenders include Geneva, Montgomery Catholic, Priceville, Good Hope and Rogers.

Class 3A

The Class 3A championship was a Smith-Chlidress family affair last season.

The families of Trinity’s Smith and Clements’ Childress met in the 2023 title game with Trinity posting a 52-48 victory for its first girls basketball championship.

Trinity head coach Blake Smith was assisted by wife Megan with daughters Emma Kate, Maddie and Lilly all important team members. Emma Kate graduated, but Maddie and Lilly return as does Mya Moskowitz.

Clements head coach Shane was assisted by wife Kelley with daughters Leah and Josie among team members. Returning starters are Leah along with Taylor Farrar and Shakarri Bailey.

Other contenders include Lauderdale County, Saint James, Susan Moore, Plainview (fresh off its volleyball championship), Midfield and Southside-Selma.

Class 2A

Mars Hill Bible won its eighth girls title last season and has a good nucleus to build around, including 6-foot eighth-grade guard Belle Hill, who already has offers from LSU, Duke, Auburn, Tennessee, South Carolina and more.

Lanett ended Pisgah’s six-year run of titles last season — Pisgah has 10 total championships — beating the Eagles in regional action. Both should contend again.

Other contenders include Cold Springs, which returns its top seven players, along with Sulligent, Geneva County, Ider and Sand Rock.

Class 1A

Dynamic Spring Garden guard Ace Austin has started for the Panthers since the seventh grade and she’s only a junior this season for dad-coach Ricky while mom Dana is an assistant coach.

Class 1A tournament MVP Ace led Spring Garden to last year’s championship with a win over 2022 winner Marion County.

Other contenders include final four Elba and Loachapoka along with Skyline and Leroy.

COACHING CHANGES

Long-time Birmingham area coach Mike Chase (stops at Spain Park, Clay-Chalkville and Mountain Brook) is the new coach at Orange Beach.

Chase brings his career record of 562-290 —two Class 7A state championships in three title game appearances at Spain Park along with two Class 6A title game appearances at Clay-Chalkville — to the Makos.

LaKenya Knight takes over at Charles Henderson after Dyneshia Jones-Elder retired. Knight spent the past 15 years at Jeff Davis coaching girls and boys teams. Jeff Davis girls won state titles in 2015 and 2016 under Knight.

Other new coaches include, Brianna Lancaster at Baker, Sammeika Thomas at Center Point, Aaron Christian at St. John Paul II and Christy Harris at Ellwood Christian.

TOP PLAYERS (A-Z)

Kelsi Andrews, So., Hazel Green

Ace Austin, Jr., Spring Garden

Heaven Bailey, Fr., Montgomery Catholic

Morgan Barnett, Sr., Davidson

Campbell Barron, So., Pisgah

Jada Bates, So., New Hope

Limaya Batimba, Sr., Lee-Huntsville

Jazmyn Bigham, Sr., Theodore

Jareah Branch, Jr., Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa

Leah Brooks, Sr., Hazel Green

Ava Card, Sr., Saint James

Kayden Carr, Fr., Prattville Christian

Syriah Daniels, Sr., Auburn

Reece Davis, Fr., Deshler

Ella Dickerson, Fr., Cold Springs

Jayla Forbes, Fr., Thompson

Khloe Ford, So., Hoover

Noel Freeman, Sr., UMS-Wright

Jill Gaylard, Jr., Vestavia Hills

Sarah Gordon, Jr., Vestavia Hills

Belle Hill, 8th, Mars Hill Bible

Ashauntee Hobbs, Sr., Foley

Sawyer Kate Hulgan, Fr., Plainview

Jordan Hunter, Sr., Hewitt-Trussville

Abethany James, Sr., Sparkman

La’Merrica Johnson, Sr., Daphne

Tamiria Jones, Sr., Huffman

Kei Knight, Jr., Foley

Jabria Lindsay, So., Central-Phenix City

Addison Luker, Sr., Daphne

Ivey Maddox, Sr., Good Hope

Shila Marks, Jr., Lauderdale County

Erin Martin, Sr., Brewbaker Tech

Ryleigh Martin, Fr., Hewitt-Trussville

Jenna McClendon, Jr., Prattville Christian

Kennedy McGhee, Jr., Brewbaker Tech

Francie Morris, Jr., Trinity

Missy Odom, So., Jasper

Laryn Scott, Sr., Sparkman

Lani Smallwood, So., Susan Moore

Hannah Smith, So., Montgomery Catholic

Jae Smith, Jr., Bob Jones

Ja’Kyah Smith, So., Bob Jones

Maddie Smith, So., Trinity

Tamya Smith, Sr., Pleasant Grove

Katelyn St.Clair, Sr., Sand Rock

Bailey Tetro, Sr., Good Hope

Haley Trotter, Jr., Chelsea

Ella Wheeler, Jr., Sulligent

A’Lyric Whitfield, So., Elba

XaiOnna Whitfield, Sr., Oxford

Angela Williams, Sr., Shades Valley

Kristen Winston, 7th, Hoover