Day: January 3, 2024

After playing six games in the first 19 days of December, L and her Irish teammates are in the midst of a much more leisurely three-games-in–18-days stretch. Throw in three days off for Christmas and two for New Year’s and it has been a nice breather after that tough run.

Their only games over the holidays were big ones: split doubleheaders against big rival Bishop Chatard. Last Friday the JV boys and girls played back-to-back at Cathedral, then Saturday the varsity teams matched up at BCHS. CHS went 4–0 in the series, but it wasn’t without some drama. At least on the girls side.

(Quick aside for my non-Indy readers comparing the schools. CHS is over 100 years old while BCHS is the “new” school, opening in 1961. CHS is around 1200 students (although trending dramatically up in the last two years), BCHS just under 700. CHS is much more diverse, drawing from Catholic and public schools all over the metro area while BCHS pulls primarily from Catholic parishes in the northern half of Indy. Diversity means more than just race, but CHS is about 70% white – C’s class is closer to 60% – while BCHS is 80% white. I would guess CHS has both more super affluent families and more families who rely on need-based scholarships to be able to attend. CHS plays in class 4A for all sports expect football, where they are currently in 6A. BCHS is a 3A school, although their football team is moving up to 4A next year. CHS has won the most games in the history of Indiana high school football; BCHS has won the most football state championships.)

The JV game was a big deal, L’s first time playing against her best buddy from middle school, K,[1] since second grade. Beginning in third grade they played together on three Chatard teams, five St P’s teams, one Cathedral team, and two years of travel ball. The girls and families had been looking forward to this game since the schedule came out.

L again played really well. In three quarters she tallied 10 points on 5–9 shooting, four rebounds, two assists, two steals, and four turnovers. Late in the third period she stole an inbounds pass and flipped it to her teammate, who missed a shot but got her own rebound. And missed again. And got another rebound. And clanked a third shot. Then a third CHS player grabbed that rebound and missed. Four girls went after the ball and it kicked out to L who was standing on the 3-point line. She tossed up a long two to give the Irish a seven-point lead going into the fourth quarter.

She had played every minute of the game to this point and began the final period on the bench. When the BCHS pressure started getting to our guards, I expected her to check back in. But she sat. The lead got down to three and we called a timeout. “Surely she’ll check in now,” I thought. Nope. When the players returned to the court she remained on the bench. People around us asked me why she wasn’t playing. Chatard parents on the other side of the gym were texting me asking why she wasn’t playing. She wasn’t hurt. I doubted she had smarted off to her coach. My only guess was the coach wanted to give the other girls a chance to play without L since she has been getting more varsity minutes.

Anyway, we managed to blow the entire lead before some late free throws earned us a two-point win. L led the girls off the bench in jumping on their teammate who hit two big free throws to seal the win.

After the game I hung out with K’s parents while we waited for the girls to come out of their locker rooms. One of L and K’s travel teammates also came to watch. Her dad’s – who was an assistant coach on the travel team – first question, “Why wasn’t L in the game?”

When L finally emerged I told her great game, then hit her with, “Why did you sit the entire fourth quarter.”

“This is so dumb,” she responded, “tonight’s minutes count against tomorrow’s game!”

She told me a week ago that since the JV and varsity games were on different nights, she would be fully eligible for each game. Apparently that’s not the case. We noticed a few boys sat the entire fourth quarter of their game, likely for the same reason.

She was right, that’s a dumb rule. And it nearly cost us the game.

In addition to playing against K, all of L’s cousins who were in town came to the game. She had a cheering section of about 20 people, complete with signs made by the little ones. That was nice, and I think she appreciated it, but you will not be surprised that I slid a few feet away from our main family group so I could monitor the game in relative peace.

So pretty good game. L scored 10 of our 34 points before she sat down, which seems like a good ratio. She has now scored 40 points over her last 11 JV quarters.

K and her teammates will likely get another crack at the Irish next week in the City tournament. L better be ready for them to come at her even harder. The JV and varsity tournaments are played in synch, so assuming all four teams make it to the finals next Friday, L may find herself sitting again in key moments of the JV championship game if the coaches think she’ll be needed in the varsity game. Or maybe playing rules are different in tournaments. I guess we’ll find out.

Saturday night we went to BCHS for the varsity games. It was a terrific environment. Their gym is much smaller and it was completely packed. By the time the boys game began there were people jammed into aisles, standing along the walls, and more who were lingering in the hallway outside the gym.

The girls played first. CHS was missing a starter, weathered foul trouble, and survived a big Chatard run to grab a six-point win. It was a tense, back-and-forth game in the second half. There is a little bit of tension between the coaching staffs that added some extra drama to the night.

L got to play in the CHS road green uniforms for the first time. She logged a little over two minutes in the first quarter, then a decent chunk of the third quarter as we navigated our center’s foul issues. She didn’t do much. One steal, three turnovers. She seemed a little keyed up, but as this was the biggest crowd she’s ever played in front of I understood. A BCHS senior who went to St P’s bullied her on a drive and drew a foul. I told her after the game that was the difference between being a freshman and a senior, both in terms of strength and hoops IQ.

It was fun both nights to get messages from BCHS and St P’s friends congratulating us on L playing well Friday and logging decent varsity minutes on Saturday.

JV is now 5–9, varsity 6–8.

The CHS boys won both their games easily. The varsity, undefeated and ranked #4, was probably the biggest reason the gym was so packed. They have a 6’8” junior who already has Power 5 offers, a sophomore who should be getting offers soon, and some terrific athletes around those two. They play super fast, can shoot, and are good on both ends. They are very fun to watch. The JV is anchored by three excellent freshmen guards and play with a reckless abandon that generally overwhelms their opponents, but also leads to a lot of sloppy-ass play.

Thursday we are off to Louisville for games against an all-girls Catholic school. I don’t know anything about them other than they are ranked #32 in the state on MaxPreps. CHS is #95 on MaxPreps, but come in 20 spots higher in the Sagarin ratings. You can’t do a damn thing with those numbers but I took the time to look them up so I’m sharing them.