SUGAR CITY – The Sugar-Salem girls basketball team was 7-0 at this time last season and on its way to a perfect 26-0 season and a state championship.

Fast forward a year, and this season’s team is 7-0 and beating opponents by 23 points per game.

But the comparisons may end there.

As coach Crystal Dayley noted after the Diggers beat a good 5A Blackfoot team on Saturday, last year’s team was loaded with experience and talent and was expected to challenge for a state championship even before the Diggers rolled through an unbeaten season.

The expectations are always high for the Diggers, but the reality was that this year’s team had some question marks with just three returning players.

Sugar-Salem guard Andee Petterson brings the ball upcourt against Blackfoot. | Allan Steele.

“The team

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