“Wait ’til next year” took on a whole new meaning for the Rangeley Lakers last season.

Rangeley Coach Heidi DeRaps looked at the eight freshmen on her 1990-91 team and could not wait until this season started after finishing last year with a 15-3 mark, including a Western Maine Class D loss to Monmouth in a tourney semifinal.

Twenty games later – without being on the short end of the scoreboard even once this season – DeRaps and her undefeated WM champion Lakers will look to cap their season with a state D championship on Saturday at the Augusta Civic Center.

Rangeley will take on Eastern Maine champ Southern Aroostook of Dyer Brook at 1 p.m. for the rights to the gold ball.

“We’re a pretty young club, but we did pretty well last year,” DeRaps said. “We knew in our conference and in the West, we’d be competitive. We didn’t plan on playing for the state championship, but it was a goal we were shooting for.”

When DeRaps took Rangeley to the semifinals last season, people were impressed. With no seniors and eight freshmen on the roster, people expected the Lakers to be back.

This year, with eight sophomores – a year older and a year better – leading the way, the Lakers are ready for Southern Aroostook.

“A lot of people didn’t realize how young we were last year,” said DeRaps, who as Heidi Deery, co-captained Rangeley’s last state championship hoop team in 1984.

“It was like `Wow! No seniors!’,” DeRaps added. “I get that same response this year, but they really don’t play like a young team. They’ve got a lot of on-court experience. Sometimes, I think, I expect a littlthem than their years should give.”

Rangeley’s top scorer is Karen Spaulding, a multi-talented sophomore guard, who is averaging 14 points per game. During the WM tourney, she upped that to 20 ppg.

Senior center April Henderson (12 ppg, 12 rpg), juniors Sarah Bicknell (8 ppg, 8 rpg) and Beth Morton (the Lakers defensive specialist), and sophomore Liz Linell round out the starting unit.

Coming off the bench for DeRaps are three sophomores – Becca Thomas, Aimee Danforth (a 5-11 forward), and Lisa McLaughlin.

“We got man-to-man, full-court, the entire game,” DeRaps said. “The kids really thrive on it. We get a lot of offense from our defense. And, the kids usually rise to the occasion.”

Not bad for a team which, as young as the Rangeley Lakers are, will probably once again be looking toward next year.