Cath-Girls basketball Lisa Finn likes the foundation of Cathedral High School’s girls basketball team. The Irish early in the 2023-2024 season are growing in the early stages of that process, and Finn – in her fifth season as the Irish girls basketball head coach – likes the direction. “It’s a great group of kids,” she said. The Irish were 5-8 through Christmas after finishing 10-12 with a loss in the sectional tournament in 2022-2023. The key this season, Finn said, will be navigating one of state’s toughest schedules while establishing the identity of a young team. The Irish after a 2-6 start won three of four games in December – victories over Guerin Catholic, New Palestine and Heritage Christian – before a loss to Hamilton Southeastern entering Christmas break. “It’s going OK,” Finn said in mid-December. “Our schedule is no joke, and it has been a little rough if you look at our record, but we're definitely competing with all these teams. We’re just working at finding ways to win.” The Irish entered the 2023-2024 season in strong shape for the present and future, with 26 players on three teams in the program. Of those 26 players, six were juniors and seniors. “We have a ton of freshmen, a ton of sophomores, which is good for the future of our program,” Finn said. “It just creates a lot of inexperience, trying to fill spots and establish roles. We’re just trying to get some of the youngsters some minutes here and there and have the veteran players bring them along, too.” “They are really good kids, hard workers. They go hard on defense, so I'm not fighting any of those battles, which is good.” The Irish, after losing leading scorer Layla Gold (Valparaiso) from last year’s team, are led in 2023-2024 by a strong group of upperclassmen with multiple returning starters and contributors. “We’ll get there,” Finn said. “I think they’re realizing that one person is not going to assume that responsibility. It can be multiple people.” The 2023-2024 Irish will be led by: *Junior guard Jaeda Wilson, who averaged 14.3 points and 3.6 rebounds through mid-December. *Senior forward Taylor Lewis (11.1 points per game, 11.1 rebounds per game). *Senior guard/forward Catherine Cline (3.7 ppg, 4.0 rpg). *Junior guard Abby Beasley (4.7 ppg, 3.3 assists per game). *Junior guard Tianna Guy (8.2 ppg, 3.4 rpg). *Junior guard Reaghan Gilmore (2.1 ppg, 2.5 rpg). *Sophomore forward Tatum Triggs (2.3 ppg, 2.5 rpg). “We have some experience,” Finn said. “It's not a completely rebuild year, but we definitely are trying to just figure out the chemistry and how to work together – and how to incorporate some youngsters into it, too. We just have to keep it simple. We can't overcomplicate things. “With our bench being inexperienced, we just can't overcomplicate it. Our defense and our effort are not the problem. We're going hard. We're competing with really good teams and we just have to keep it simple and not overthink it.” Linn said the Irish ideally will be a strong defensive team, particularly against some of the top teams on a schedule ranked as one of the toughest 10 or 15 in the state. “We're going to need to keep the score low when we play the top-ranked teams,” she said. “Our sectional is going to be rough, too. We're going to be a defensive team and we're going to have to limit possessions just until our offense gets there. Limiting possessions that way may be kind of our M.O. “Anytime we're playing these big teams with these big guns on there, we just have to keep the score low and limit turnovers and we've done a pretty good job with that. We just have to find a way to win and find a couple of people that will just take the reins and find a way.” Finn said the depth throughout all levels of the program means a strong future and foundation. The entire junior varsity team is freshmen and sophomores, with 11 players on the freshman team. “Collectively, this is a group of strong basketball players,” Finn said. “They have high basketball IQ and it’s just a really good group of girls. The future is definitely looking pretty bright. We just have to find ways to get them some experience. We’re going to be pretty inexperienced probably over the next year and a half. They're great kids, they want to play and they do what we ask. That’s refreshing.”