Lady Irish aims to earn a trip back to Pinnacle.

By: Alise Reschke

The Lady Irish basketball team is hoping to redeem themselves this season after a disappointing loss in the semifinals last year. Last season the Irish finished with a 21-6 record.

The Lady Irish fought hard to defeat Dundy County-Stratton at Hastings for the district final game for a trip to the state tournament. A win over Humphrey Saint Francis in the first round put them in the semifinals vs Wynot. The Irish faced extra adversity while down in the fourth quarter when senior Makinley Scholl fouled out. This devastating loss put the team in the third and fourth place game where they would face Howells-Dodge and suffer another loss that ended the season.

“Our expectations are always the same for the Lady Irish. Trust the process, seek continuous improvement, play with relentless effort, be playing out best basketball in late February and early March, and give ourselves a shot in Lincoln,” Head coach Luke Santo said.

“We only lost one senior, so we have experience coming back,” Coach Luke Santo said. “We have lots of guards, so ball handling should be good.” The team will be returning four starters, senior Jentry Lechtenberg, juniors Avery Santo and Daycee Witt and sophomore Hallie Jones.

The lineup for this year consist of two freshmen, four sophomores, three juniors and one senior, with a total of 10 players on the team. “We lack numbers, so depth will be an issue,” Santo said. “We wish we had more girls out, but we have all the pieces we need for another successful season.”

The final goal for the Irish is to make it to the state tournament at Pinnacle Bank Arena, but it will take hard work and dedication to make it there. “We need the girls who were more “role” players last year to take a big step in leadership and production this season,” Santo said.