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­The Harvard women’s basketball team enters the 2015-2016 season with seven new freshman faces. While all were standouts in high school, competing for the Ivy League championship poses new challenges and a different level of competition.

Due to injuries and the graduation of three starters, Harvard coach Kathy Delaney-Smith will be calling on several of her first-year players early on.

“This year, no matter their role, every freshman will make a big impact on our team,” co-captain AnnMarie Healy said. “The game is only the final product of a process in which everyone contributes.”

The team boasts just three seniors, three sophomores, and four juniors. This includes one sophomore, Taylor Rooks, who is sitting out the 2015-2016 season in residency after transferring from Stanford. At seven, the freshman class is by far the largest.

Five of the seven new additions are guards, which will help fill the gap left by former starting point guard Ali Curtis ’15.

The first of those is 5’7’’ guard Sydney Skinner. Skinner, who comes from Plano, Texas, has come a long way since her days of playing basketball in kindergarten. As a senior in high school, she was a McDonald’s All-American nominee, one of the highest honors for any high school basketball player.

In the years between, Skinner learned to love everything basketball through her older brother, who acted as both coach and trainer to develop her into the player she is today. She captained her high school squad as both a junior and a senior, leading the team to four consecutive District 10 championships. Her success has translated into confidence about her ability to drive play from the guard position.

“I can bring leadership at the point guard position,” Skinner said. “A voice on the court.”

According to her teammates, Skinner possesses considerable talents both on and off the ball.

“Sydney plays very confidently,” Healy said. “As a point guard, this is an intangible. Good defense and having a great drive are a given.”

Competing at the point guard position with Skinner is freshman Nani Redford, who boasts both quickness and defensive tenacity at the position. Redford started playing basketball in fourth grade and almost immediately joined an AAU team. She was a three-year starter at her high school, which was ranked eighth in the nation her junior year.

This season, Redford will not be playing at the two—as she has done over her career—but instead will be taking the court as a point guard.

“It’s different for me compared to playing off the ball as I had before,” Redford said. “I’ve been playing basketball for many years now. So it’s not bad but definitely an adjustment.”

However, playing as a point guard means that she will play more on-ball defense, which Healy describes as one of her greatest attributes.