The Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team has a new coach and a new frame of mind as it begins preparations for its season.

"Come out and watch us play," junior guard Katie Norman said. "It'll be different and better."

Last season the team finished with a record of 8-21 and was second to last in the Ohio Valley Conference standings. The players already feel that they can improve upon that.

"I expect to be OVC champs," junior forward Brittany Harriel said. "I expect to play our hardest and leave everything on the court every game, and that's all we can do."

The players credit new coach Ty Margenthaler with their newfound positivity and for setting the program in a new direction.

"[He] totally turned all of our attitudes around, in a good way, so [I'm] just very thankful," Norman said.

"You know coach always tells us, 'cheer everyone on, clap everyone on,'" Harriel said. "There is a lot more team chemistry."

Margenthaler said that he believes he has changed the culture of the team and the "toughness factor."

"We're a team right now, and I think when I first got here we were all on different planets it felt like," Margenthaler said. "I think right now we're one, we're a unit and so that's the biggest thing I've changed, to just really be a team."

Since the team started practicing on Oct. 2, they have taken steps to improve every day. An NCAA rule allowed Margenthaler to start practice 40 days before the team's first regular season game. The rule only allows 30 practices, but previously the NCAA required practices to start on Oct. 15.

"They need to know my system, how I operate; and quite honestly, I need to know what they can do," Margenthaler said. "This allows us a little bit more time, not to just throw things into the mix and we can just kind of gradually build. So for us it was the best thing to do."

The team has about half of its preseason practices before its first exhibition game against Harris-Stowe on Nov. 7. The players hope to sharpen their skills by then.

"We just need to work on competing every day," Harriel said. "Just working on the little things and getting better."

Norman agrees and believes the team needs to better their communication.

Margenthaler said that the team has been willing to learn and has improved every day. A few players have stood out to him so far, including Harriel and Norman, who both played in all 29 games during the 2010-2011 season, starting in 26. They were also the team's leading scorers, both averaging 8.9 points per game.

"Stat-wise last year, [Harriel] was one of the better ones," Margenthaler said. "[Norman] works extremely hard and she's really showing some great leadership. And a newcomer that I'm really happy with right now is Brooke Taylor."

Taylor, a red-shirt freshman forward from Bismarck, Mo., has not played in a college game. She was sidelined last year due to health issues regarding an iron deficiency, but is ready to play this season.