KRUM — The Krum Lady Cats are on the verge of living out their childhood dreams and those of their small town.

Basketball is a part of life in Krum. It is not unusual for the high school gym to be overflowing with fans on a Tuesday night, while others are bussed in from nearby parking lots to accommodate the masses.

DRC/Gary Payne

Krum basketball players Jessica Hesse, center, and Kristina Cloud, right, watch as their team runs drills during practice in Krum on Thursday. The Krum girls are the No. 1-ranked team in Class 2A.

On most nights, there is standing room only during a big game, while on other nights people are crowded on the outside of the gym, peering through windows to catch a peek at the action.

Up until this season, the boys team was the town’s main attraction, but things are changing in Krum. The boys are good, but the girls are what the people come to see.

“It’s really exciting, because in the past it’s been all about the boys,” said Dani Wojciak, the reigning District 13-2A offensive player of the year. “This year its really about both teams. It’s really exciting to have the support of so many people.”

The Lady Cats are the top-ranked Class 2A team in the state and are perhaps weeks away from getting the opportunity to play for a state title, which would be a fitting end to these girls’ high school careers, considering an article that ran in the Denton Record-Chronicle in 2002.

The article, written about these girls when they were in the sixth grade, set the wheels of fate in motion by referring to them as “future state champions.”

 “I think it’s always in the back of our minds, but we just like to go one game at a time,” Wojciak said. “We just have to remember it’s about all of us.”

The Krum girls have never won a state championship. Last season, they suffered a heartbreaking loss to Clarksville in the regional quarterfinals. After that, the girls believed they had destiny on their side.

“It’s always been a dream, ever since we were little,” guard Kristina Cloud said.

This season, the Lady Cats are only a fourth-quarter meltdown away from perfection.

Krum is 28-1 overall and 10-0 in district, with its only loss coming to Kennedale, which is currently the third-ranked 3A team in the state.

The Lady Cats are a quick and polished team, but their best attributes all stem from their instinctive familiarity with each other. Six of the eight girls on the varsity roster have played and practiced together for the past eight years.

Over that time span, they have grown to anticipate each other’s moves on the court, which is especially obvious when you watch them in person.

“I think they’re just more mature and more focused now,” head coach Lana Degelia said.

Degelia has coached the current group for four years, and said she has grown to trust them completely to work hard and keep making improvements without being prodded.

The system Krum runs goes through post Jessica Hesse, who leads the team in most statistical categories.

Hesse, the 2006-07 district co-MVP, leads the team with 7.4 rebounds per game, 4.6 steals per game, and in 3-point percentage (66.7 percent) and field goal percentage (58.5 percent).

Wojciak is quick, a good shot and has an innate ability to find Hesse on the post. She leads the team in assists with 3.6 per game and averages 3.96 steals per game.

Meanwhile, Cloud is trustworthy and dependable and always seems to be in the right place on the court. And despite being only 5-6, she has a knack for rebounding. The senior is second only to Hesse in total rebounds on the team with 84. Hesse has 144.

Cloud, a 2006-07 all-district first-team selection, is second on the team in 3-point percentage, shooting a respectable 35.3 percent from behind the arc.

Emily Beck is the third guard on Krum’s roster, averaging 3.5 rebounds per game and 1.04 steals.

Two players who would start on just about any 2A team in the state are Allison Taylor and Jessica Wyatt. They are both post players with great abilities, but have the luck of being stuck behind Hesse.

For most of the season, the team’s spark off the bench has been the youngest player on the team, sophomore Kirsti Degelia, who is also one of the team’s best on-the-ball defenders, and a deceptively good athlete. Last year’s district Sixth Man of the Year is 5-7 with a long reach and a good shooting form, who is capable of hitting multiple 3-pointers in a row or going 10-of-10 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter to put a game away. She leads the team by shooting 64.4 percent from two-point territory, and is second on the team in steals with 3.1 per game and second in rebounding with 4.6 per game.

The other non-senior on the team, junior Sunny Burk, is already the team’s best free throw shooter, shooting 83.8 percent from behind the line this season.

No matter which player you talk to, the Krum girls all go to painstaking efforts to demonstrate that they are a team, and that teamwork is what makes them so good.

It’s hard to argue with that.

MONTY MILLER can be reached at 940-566-6869. His e-mail address is mwmiller@dentonrc.com.