POULSBO — The 2006-2007 season could be one of change for Viking girls basketball. With a spark of solid youth and the guidance of veterans, this year’s squad is focused on redefining North Kitsap’s standing in the Narrows League.

Due to a league realignment that took effect this year, NK is joining the Narrows Bay Division where its only familiar opponent will be Central Kitsap. The Vikings will also be matching up with Mount Tahoma, Bellarmine Prep, Olympia and Stadium in league play.

“It’s all so exciting with a new coach and the new rules and new league,” said senior post Riley Watts.

Makaiwi-Barreith, an assistant coach last year, stepped to the front of the ship for the Vikings last spring and has since been focusing on meshing a talented incoming sophomore class with experienced returners.

“Mak’s a good coach, she’s one of those coaches who you can just tell how bad she wants it because of how hard she works,” said senior Jade Niemeyer. “The determining factor is going to be how bad we want it.”

Niemeyer joins Watts, Lindsey Sprague and Brenna Lander to serve as the team’s senior core while this year’s juniors will transition into varsity roles after playing under Makaiwi-Barreith on the JV squad last year.

“We’ve been focusing on team-building, and every week we have a theme that we have a guest speaker come in and talk about,” Makaiwi-Barreith said. “This first week was my week, and the theme word was ‘attitude.’”

With an overriding goal of making a statement in their newly aligned league, the Vikings are starting from the ground up — which means building camaraderie, character and communication.

The groundwork has already been established through team summer camps, organized practices and pickup games held throughout the off-season.

“This year, hopefully we can establish that we are playing for the love of the game,” Niemeyer said. “In the past, team chemistry hasn’t exactly been there, so that’s one of the things that we’re really focusing on. Nothing is going to get in between us this year.”

“If we believe in our team and in everyone’s abilities, we can do great things,” Makaiwi-Barreith said, noting the team strategy that “together, everyone achieves miracles.”

This year’s squad comes into the season with an air of confidence as three undefeated teams from Kingston Junior High School fuse as the Vikings. The Cavaliers from the 2007 senior class completed the first of what have become near-miraculous successive undefeated seasons at KJH.

“But competing at the junior high level and competing at the 4A high school varsity level are two different things,” Makaiwi-Barreith said.

The Vikes will begin competition at 7 p.m. Nov. 27 as they travel to Bainbridge Island for a preseason game against the Spartans. Then later that week, they will host Bremerton in their first home game at 7 p.m. Nov. 30.

“This is what we’ve waited for all year — we’re just going to grasp it,” Niemeyer said.