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MUSCATINE, Iowa – Ready or not, the girls’ basketball season is here for Muscatine and first-year head coach Susan Orvis.

With just 10 practice days and a scrimmage in the books, the Muskies tip off the 2009-10 season Saturday night at Cedar Rapids Prairie. The sophomore tilt begins at 5 p.m. followed by the varsity at approximately 6:15 to 6:30 p.m.

“These first three games are going to be the hardest,” Orvis said this week. “We’re a lot of people’s first game. I won’t get a chance, except through a glimpse of a scrimmage or film from last year, to get us prepared like I would like.”

However, Orvis is familiar with Prairie and head coach Steve Doser. Besides scrimmaging the Hawks last weekend at Cedar Rapids Kennedy, Orvis used to recruit some of his players while she was an assistant college coach.

“They’re going to play man; they’re probably going to press us and they’re very active and physical,” Orvis said.

Prairie defeated Muscatine 34-19 in last year’s opener, but the Muskies return the bulk of their roster from a 3-19 club. Johnnie Jindrich was the lone senior in Muscatine’s lineup.

The Muskies will lean heavily on a senior-laden group this season in Viola Wagner, Jordan Walgren, Julie Wunder, Haylie Franklin and Hannah Peck.

“This game is definitely going to be a measuring stick for us,” Peck said. “We did a decent job for the most part of sticking with them during our 20-minute scrimmage last week.”

Orvis has moved two underclassmen up to the varsity in freshman Leti Lerma and sophomore Miranda Ebeling.

“Once they get comfortable and acclimated to the varsity, they’re going to be kids we put in the mix that will help us and make us better,” Orvis said. “They bring a little more versatility, too.”

So far, Orvis has been pleased with her team’s work ethic.

“The attitudes have been great,” she said. “We’re asking a lot of new things in terms of drills and terminology. They trust and are willing to try it. I can see us making strides.”

Still, Orvis doesn’t want her team to be discouraged if things don’t go as planned Saturday.

“I don’t want them to judge their progress on our first game because we’ve got a long ways to go,” she said. “At the same time, it’s pretty quick. I don’t expect it to be perfect yet.

“We are going to play to win and put ourselves in a better position to do that.”

Muscatine will play its first four games on the road.

After Saturday, the Muskies travel to Mount Pleasant on Tuesday followed by road tilts at No. 3 Linn-Mar (Nov. 28) and the Mississippi Athletic Conference opener at 15th-ranked Pleasant Valley (Dec. 4).

“We’re really excited to get going,” Wagner said. “I think it’s going to be a fun season for us.”