It is time for a new group of players to orchestrate success for the King’s Fork High School girls’ basketball team, and the new group has been getting the job done so far.

Gone are longtime Lady Bulldog stars like power forward/center Khadedra Croker and point guard Brittany Alston, but King’s Fork is off to a 3-0 start this season after it crushed visiting Great Bridge High School 56-28 on Tuesday.

“I think we had a pretty good team performance last night. We played well in spurts,” Lady Bulldogs coach Maurice Fofana said. “We had 21 points in the first quarter, which I thought was great for us, and we only allowed maybe two.”

Junior Latonia Thomas led King’s Fork with 14 points, while junior Jazlyn Dunn contributed a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds. Sophomore Amesha Miller also had 10 points.

Senior Imani Lewis, junior Jac’quazja Council and sophomore Cydney Nichols chipped in six points apiece.

Fofana was also pleased that other girls that had not been playing got the opportunity on Tuesday.

“We’re going to need some of those kids down the stretch,” he said.

Last season, the Lady Bulldogs went 22-3 overall and undefeated in the conference, becoming the conference regular season and tournament champions.

Though they were disappointed with their first-round exit in the regional playoffs, they were still a strong team led by Ironclad Conference Player of the Year Khadedra Croker, who is now playing for Virginia Tech, and Brittany Alston, who Fofana described as a great point guard that will be hard to replace.

Graduating along with Croker and Alston were Shanell Pope and Jukira Riddick.

Fofana said he is not trying to get someone on this year’s team to replace Croker.

“Sometimes you can’t replace a kid,” he said. “You just move on and just try to do what you can do.”

And what the Lady Bulldogs can do this season might be pretty substantial based on their strong start.

“As of right now, I really don’t have any (expectations) on our team, because we’re such a young group,” Fofana said. But he later added that like every year, “We want to win our conference, we want to move on to the region, and the state is always where we want to end up.”

Among the standouts aiming to make this happen is small forward/shooting guard Amesha Miller.

“She’s going to rebound, she’s going to block shots, she’s going to make layups,” Fofana said, later adding what her per-game averages should be: “She’s a 15 and 10 kid — 15 points, 10 rebounds.”

Guard Cydney Nichols already started last season, and “the expectations have grown for her a little,” Fofana said, noting she will contribute with outside shooting.

The coach also expects consistent scoring from forward Latonia Thomas.

“She can do it on a regular basis,” he said. “She’s so strong down low, really good footwork.”

Point guard/shooting guard Imani Lewis transferred in from Granby High School. Fofana said she has great size, is good at handling the ball and is a great scorer.

“She can get it done in different ways: in the paint, outside,” he said.

Among the team’s up-and-comers are Jac’quazja Council and Jazlyn Dunn.

The coach made a point to emphasize the importance of freshman point guard Cam Harris, who he said is currently out with a knee injury but will probably be back in full duty in January.

“She’ll definitely be one that we have big dreams and big hopes for,” he said.

King’s Fork (3-0) visits Oscar Smith High School tonight and hosts Indian River High School on Friday and Woodrow Wilson High School on Saturday.