A year from now, Kinley Asp will be a Boston College Eagle.

Right now she’s trying out a different animal-themed title.

“She’s the Mama Bear,” Air Academy coach Phil Roiko said following a 55-32 victory over Doherty, the second consecutive win to open what promises to be a fascinating season for the Kadets. “She’s taking care of everyone. She’s been fantastic.”

The roster disparity for the defending 5A state runners-up is bizarre. There are seven sophomores, only one of whom (Grace Mooney) saw varsity action last year. There’s also one freshman, Addison Reutter, who scored 14 points in her high school debut Tuesday and added six on Thursday.

And then there’s Asp, the senior who led Colorado Springs Christian School to back-to-back titles as a freshman and sophomore before transferring to Air Academy last year and helping the Kadets to a 26-1 season. They then graduated a slew of seniors, including Tatyonna Brown, who is seeing playing time at Kansas.

The Kadets now feature a player who is as close to a finished product as it gets at this level and a surrounding cast straight out of the packaging.

“It’s wild,” Asp said. “It’s been a fun year. Definitely a very different looking year, but all the girls are working extremely hard and have great attitudes. It’s been fun. It’s been full of surprises in the best ways.”

Thursday’s victory showed glimpses of Air Academy’s promise and the growing pains it can expect.

The Spartans, fresh off an 18-7 season that included a 6A state tournament victory, jumped to an 8-2 start. The Kadets stormed back with 10 consecutive points, but Doherty – behind new coach Kelsey Grimaldo, a 2013 Doherty graduate – came right back and led 13-12 in the second quarter.

Air Academy then zoomed ahead, but it certainly wasn’t all because of Asp. The senior didn’t hit a field goal in the first half (scoring five points at the free throw line), but her team led a quality squad from a higher classification by 10 points at the break.

“The nerves were definitely big tonight because it was our first home game,” said sophomore Naomi Johnson, who hit a pair of 3s en route to 12 points.

Livi Andress (eight points), Mooney (six) and Reutter (six) all factored heavily into the Kadets scoring.

Doherty (0-2) was led by 11 points from senior Jada Symons

Asp finished with 18 points – including an 8-of-9 showing from the line – and checked out of the game for the first time with 2:33 remaining and her team up by 20.

The Kadets, who outscored their opponents by an average of 63-33 last season, know these lopsided games will be harder to come by this season.

For Roiko and Asp, that will require some adjustments. The coach said he felt it at halftime, when he wanted to get after his team but instead decided to focus on the positives.

For Asp, the Mama Bear, it has come in the form of reigning in her competitiveness to some degree and instead focusing on being the best version of herself on and off the court to serve as a role model.

“I hold myself and my teammates to a very high standard and at times you kind of have to lower it and teach them and help them in different aspects,” Asp said. “They work extremely hard; they’re great girls. They catch on fast. So it’s not like I’m having to drop to a super low level. They know what to do.”