No Ball, No Basket, No Problem.

For the past two weeks of girls' basketball conditioning, the Hamden High School gym has not been home to a single basketball. Even the basketball goals are missing, suspended near the ceiling.

According to CIAC regulations, no basketball activities are allowed until the first practice date, Nov. 22. Still, the girls are hard at work, preparing for try outs when the gym will once again be a beehive for round ball.

Each afternoon from 2:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. close to 40 athletes can be seen running and performing a variety of conditioning exercises in preparation for the upcoming try outs. Forty-nine girls are signed up to try out for about 30 positions on three teams -- freshman, junior varsity and varsity.

The conditioning sessions, being run by head coach John Ceneri and junior varsity coach Tiffany DeRosa, are not highly competitive. The girls are having fun but working hard to prepare for the tryouts.

Senior Amber Kountz played on the team her sophomore year, but took last year off for an internship. She's eager to make a return to the team this year.

"The conditioning has been going on for two weeks," said Kountz at a recent conditioning. "It's pretty intense. We have a great JV coach, she played college basketball and really knows how to get us into shape."

Kountz's father Keith Kountz is a WTNH news anchor and recent recipient of a National Academy of Television Silver Circle award. Amber is hoping Hamden can bring home some awards of their own on the court this season.

"Everyone wants to bring home a championship," said Kountz. "It hasn't happened in a while but we have a great junior and senior squad so we should have a successful year."

Coach Ceneri, who has coached girls basketball at Hamden since 1989, has the process of conditioning down to a science. Running and working out with medicine balls to improve arm strength are the key activities.

"We're trying to get their bodies conditioned so their muscles are prepared for tryouts," said Ceneri.

Once conditioning is over, then the real test of tryouts begins.

"We'll judge them on ball handling, rebounding, passing and their overall basketball skills," said Ceneri.

The best players will make the varsity team, which must overcome the loss of five senior starters. Those seniors led Hamden last year to a 15-9 record and an appearance in the SCC tournament, where they lost the quarter finals to Career High of New Haven, 65-62.

"The five senior starters were outstanding players and now the younger players must develop," Coach Ceneri said. "We'll be a young team, but pretty good. We'll have girls who played partial roles last year. There's some outstanding freshman and some transfers from Career and Sacred Heart Academy."

It will be exciting to see who stars for this year's team, but Coach Ceneri won't make anypredictions.

"It's hard because we lost last year's senior starters so it's up in the air right now," he said.

The team reached the tournament semifinals in 2002 but has never won a state championship.

After tryouts come practices, with the first game scheduled for Dec. 8, when Hamden hosts Guilford. The Green Dragons beat the Indians twice last year, 65-57 during the regular season and 83-55 in the first round of the SCC tournament. Their toughest competition this season will come from Career and Hillhouse, top teams in the SCC.

The Green Dragons play in the Quinnipiac Division of the SCC, which also includes West Haven, Sacred Heart, Notre Dame, Xavier and Mercy.

The Hamden girls' varsity team has 20 games scheduled this season, ten of them at home. Tickets are sold at the games, $5 for adults and $3 for students.

Stay tuned to the Hamden Patch for continued coverage of Hamden High's girls' basketball this season.