TOLEDO, Ohio — Since 2012, Notre Dame Academy basketball has made it down to the State Final Four seven different times.
Last season, they were supposed to have that opportunity, but it was taken away from them after the OHSAA canceled all winter tournaments due to COVID-19.
Now, the Eagles are on a mission to get back.
Head coach Travis Galloway has turned NDA into a powerhouse.
They have won 10 straight Three Rivers Athletic Conference titles, and in that span, they have gone 128-4 in league games.
When players come to Notre Dame, there is just an expectation that you will be making deep postseason runs.
"You have to be lucky," said Galloway. "You have to play well on the right nights, you have to stay out of foul trouble, you have to stay out of a rolled ankle. You definitely have to have some luck on your side to make those runs. It's a very special thing to do and to have the chance to do it seven times is something I would never fathom before."
"I think we're just all in it together," said NDA's star junior Grace VanSlooten. "It's not one person who's showing out, not one person being selfish. We all want to win. We're great teammates. We're close off the court, on the court."
Having that trip to Columbus taken away from them almost exactly one year ago is something that still lingers in their minds.
"I think we're all upset that we got it taken away from us last year," said VanSlooten. "We're all going in with a chip on our shoulder, knowing we can get there and we're just going to play our best."
"It was really difficult, just really sad," said Eagles' senior Olivia Sims. "Just because we didn't know if we were going to come back and be able to redo it or restart the tournament. I think this year just knowing that anything can happen, that if we get exposed to COVID again, then we're done. I think just knowing that it's pushing everyone to go as hard as they can."
"It is something that we do think about, just the what-ifs and all that," said Galloway. "We also know that we've had to move on, and we have. Now, it's this year's group, this year's team to see what kind of noise they can make in the tournament."