This was a major step in an exciting direction. Cathedral High School girls basketball turned in its best season in two decades in 2024-2025, with a veteran team turning in big regular-season moments and a deep playoff run. This was a memorable season, and a foundation for the future. “Putting together a year like we did this year was pretty awesome,” Lisa Finn said. The Irish in Finn’s sixth season as head coach performed strong throughout the postseason, winning their first sectional title since 2005 and their first regional title since 2001 to qualify for the semi-state round of the Class 3A state tournament. The Irish also won the City Tournament with a 48-45 victory over Chatard and the Northeastern Holiday Tournament with a 65-34 victory over Northeastern. “We set goals of winning 15 games, winning the holiday tournament, winning city and winning sectional,” Finn said. “Those were our team goals. We did all those things and there’s not many times that happens. That was pretty cool.” The Irish (18-10) lost to Roncalli, 72-54, in the semifinal of the New Albany semi-state after reaching that round with a six-game late-season, postseason winning streak. The 18 victories were the most in Finn’s tenure and the most since 2003, with the Irish accomplishing that against one of the state’s toughest Class 3A schedules. “We had some losses early on, and it stinks to lose some of the games we lost,” Finn said. “It definitely prepared us for the postseason and having those tough games. It was good.” The Irish won three games – Chatard (51-50), Crispus Attucks (65-27) and Purdue Polytechnic (63-34) – to win the Class 3A, Region 26 Tournament at Cathedral. They won the Class 3A Greencastle Regional with a 38-23 victory over Brazil Northview. “We just went on a tear,” Finn said. “The sectional championship was awesome. The girls were super-excited. Northview played a little slower than we were used to. We tried to speed it up on defense. “That was an interesting game for our girls. We had quite a few people at that game, and that was really awesome for our girls.” The Irish in 2025 were led by a strong senior class that included Abby Beasley and Reaghan Gilmore, a pair of four-year players and strong leaders. “Having leadership like that made a huge difference,” Finn said. “We had two freshmen on the team and those girls really gravitated toward her (Beasley). She (Beasley) is going to be missed.” Added Finn, “We didn’t have a lot of drama this year, which is awesome.” The ’25 Irish’s key contributors. *Senior Jaeda Wilson (10.11 points per game, 3.7 rebounds per game). *Senior Tianna Guy (10.3 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 2.0 apg). *Freshman Caroline Wiggins (9.3 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 1.6 apg). *Junior Precious Anuka (5.7 ppg, 2.2 rpg). *Beasley (4.3 ppg, 2.6 rpg). *Gilmore (3.9 ppg, 2.6 rpg). *Freshman Maddy Watko (3.5 ppg, 1.6 rpg). *Junior Tatum Triggs (3.3 ppg, 2.0 rpg). It was a group that pushed the Irish to its strongest season under Finn after multiple seasons building, working and establishing a foundation of a solid program. “It can be hard to build culture, and there can be a feeling of, ‘When is the payoff? When are the girls going to see the fruits of their labor?’ ’’ Finn said. “We set some goals at the beginning of the year. You always want more, but if we look at everything we talked about as a team we could do, we set out and did it – and then some. It's hard at the end to put it in perspective but in a couple of weeks we’ll realize, ‘OK, we did something pretty cool.’ “Nobody wants to lose, but it’s a long season and some years there’s some relief when it’s over. This year, not one person in our program that didn’t want to keep going. It was good.” The Irish next season will be led by strong youth, particularly a sophomore class moving into their junior seasons – with players such as Wiggins and Anuka projected to return to continue reestablishing the tradition of a program with a rich history. “We have a lot of sophomores who are going to be juniors,” Finn said. “That’s probably going to make for some hard conversations for the coaches and players as we get closer. We'll see what happens over the next six months as far as development. “We’re going to be a different team from an athleticism standpoint, which is a fun challenge. That always makes it fun and interesting. We definitely have some good pieces.”