The women’s basketball team season came to a close when the girls ran into North Central in the Sectional semifinal. The 67-47 loss wrapped up their historic season finishing with an overall record of 15-10 and a City championship. Head Coach Mrs. Lisa Finn shares her postseason thoughts on this season’s progress and on the future of the program.

Fiun said, “Honestly, our biggest focus was giving our best effort and trying to put ourselves in a position to win the game. I don’t know that we really did that against North Central. Up to that point we had played a lot of games better than the one we ended our season with. That, for me, was really the most disappointing thing because we did not leave our best effort out there in that final game.

“After the game, I told the seniors, ‘The program was left better than when you came.’ That’s really all you can ask for. I think our girls did their best to make this program better and I can’t ask for anything more than that.”

The team’s season was historic because they won their first City championship in 18 years, which is before many of the members of this year’s roster was born. Finn said, “That was a total grind in playing Chatard. We talk a lot about leaving a legacy and we focused on the fact that the City championship, in fact, was a big deal. It was one of our goals set out at the beginning of the season so achieving one of our goals was a good thing too.”

Junior guard Layla Gold, who transferred in from Park Tudor, was outstanding for the Irish, averaging 15.4 points per game in her first year on the Hill. Gold was a transfer from Park Tudor high school. Finn said, “Layla was a complete shock and a surprise to me. I had no idea. I did not know who Layla was before she set foot on our campus. She was a huge asset to us this year. She’s also a good kid, too, which is sometimes half the battle. We had to put her in positions that we didn’t think we necessarily would have if we had a different lineup than the one we had this year.

“We had a freshman point guard, which forced Layla to handle the ball more than we probably would’ve liked her to and probably more than she would’ve liked to, but we needed her to do that, and I think she just accepted that role. Being a point guard made it a little harder for her scoring. She probably took that North Central loss the hardest because I think she felt like all the weight was on her shoulders. I hope that will light a fire in her going into next year.”

For the team having only three seniors, Gold had to step up and play a big role for the team. But Gabby Gay (who transferred in from Zionsville), Katie Bremer and Darryn Ely all contributed in big ways for the Irish. “They brought a huge leadership factor on and off the court just being seniors and having been through it before. Obviously I didn’t know Gabby all that well because it was her first year here. I would’ve liked to have her for a little bit longer because she’s such a great kid, but Katie and Darryn have been in the program for four years. Seeing them progress in our program and seeing them progress individually was really awesome and that’s all you can ask for.”

Most players learn a lot about themselves from a coach, but Finn said she did things differently this year that helped her learn about her own team. The coach said, “This year for me, personally, not having my daughter on the team was really nice. It has allowed me to forge a relationship with the girls in a different way than when my own kid was there.

“Obviously, I wouldn’t trade my time with my daughter on the team for the world, but I think this year allowed me to be a little more open with the girls and just have a different type of relationship than what had been in the past.”

During the season, the varsity defeated two teams — Mooresville and Bishop Chatard — that would go on to win Regional titles on Feb. 12.