Brewer High School came so close to a Class 5A state championship a year ago.

The Lady Patriots made it all the way to the final four and gave eventual state champion – and rival – Hartselle all it wanted.

However, head coach Ron Smith said his team isn’t satisfied by just coming close.

“Our girls know just how close we came last year,” Smith said. “We were up late in the fourth set by about five or six points. You have to give Hartselle credit for coming back the way they did, but it has definitely been a motivating factor for our team.”

Smith said his starting rotation may be one of the best that Brewer has ever had. Three players have scholarship offers to play sports in college.

Cheyenne McLemore has a full scholarship offer to Shorter University to play volleyball. Savana Flack has an offer to play basketball at Faulkner University.

Riley Northway, who is a three-time all-state basketball player and MVP of the Lady Patriots’ 2012 state championship team, has committed to Lipscomb University.

In addition to them, Brewer returns Emily Oden and Kelsey Netherley, both of which were key components of the run to the AHSAA state tournament.

Smith also said that he expects Malerie Drinkard to contribute, along with Lexus Brindley.

“This is probably one of deepest senior classes that we’ve ever had,” Smith said. “They’ve done this in all of our sports as well.”