Holy Cross finally ended Notre Dame’s run as five-time district champs last season, winning their first district title since 2017.
The two will once again be expected to meet in late February with not only a district title on the line, but a much more important No. 1 seed into the region tournament.
“This region is more wide-open it’s been since any year I’ve coached here,” Indians coach Ted Arlinghaus said. “Prior years you knew you had to get through Cooper and Ryle to win the region. With things being more open, it puts even more priority coming out of your district tournament as a No. 1 seed.”
With Cooper and Ryle graduating heavy numbers, the two teams that will battle it out in the 35th have certainly entered their names in the 9th Region title mix.
Beechwood will be the team to try and alter that, Celeste Brockett taking over the Tigers program that graduated just one senior from last season’s team.
Holmes has decided to not play a varsity schedule this season, building up a youthful roster that looks to gain experience at the JV and freshman levels.
This is day four of six of our district-by-district basketball previews for the 32nd-37th District for the upcoming season, slated to begin on Dec. 2.
Boys basketball previews
Girls basketball previews
Holy Cross (28-6 in 2023-24)
It was a memorable 2023-24 season for the Indians as not only did they claim district supremacy, but won a second consecutive All “A” state title and gave Cooper a scare in the region semifinals.
Holy Cross has some key pieces returning, but losing the services to graduation from the trio of Julia Hunt, Miyah Wimzie and Aaliyah Hayes will take some time to immulate.
“We lost length and size. You don’t replace a Region Player of the Year and a Second Team All-Region player,” Indians coach Ted Arlingahus said of Hunt and Wimzie.
The trio’s departure brings about a change to how teams will see the Indians this year. Arlinghaus feels they’ve re-invented the offense to put up more points, add more of a full court press and go deeper on the bench.
Guards like Aumani Nelson, Aniyah Carter, Alyssa Arlinghaus and D’Myah Williams can certainly dictate the tempo. Nelson is a slasher who gets to the rim with a purpose while also leading the team with 45 three-pointers made last season. Carter is one of the better on the ball defenders and ball handlers in the region while Williams’ upside is through the roof. Her last two seasons have been derailed due to knee injuries, but the sophomore has plenty of time to make up for it. Arlinghaus adds another 3-point threat to the four-guard arsenal.
“I feel like three of them can get us double-digits every night,” Arlinghaus said.
Another boost will be the return of Ella Lehmkuhl, her last two seasons on the shelf due to late soccer season injuries. Jai Johnson is also expected to get a lion’s share of the minutes. Milli Rhodes, Riley Hodge and Kaelyn Bowens combined to appear in 75 games last season to add more depth.
Expecations are high for the Indians. They’ve been able to hang a couple of banners the last couple seasons, but this season they’re aiming for a 9th Region championship banner.
“We’ve worked hard to raise the bar,” Arlinghaus said. “Just because we graduate kids we’re not going to lower our bar. We’ve accomplished a lot of great things, we still want to win region and play at Rupp. We got new banners to be raised and told them now it’s a new year and now let’s go get a new one and raise another.”
Notre Dame (21-10 in 2023-24)
Kes Murphy thinks his team has 2020 and 2021 vibes to it with a similar makeup. Those two teams made region championship games.
What was a team gaining their bearings the last couple seasons, returns with a ton of experience for what should be a deep Pandas team. Deep means Murphy can play his style of aggressive defense with continual substitutions.
“We’ll use our depth to our advantage,” Murphy said. “It will allow us to play a certain tempo and be a really good defensive team.”
The head of the snake is Sophia Gibson as things funnel down through her in the post defensively. The Yale commit returns as the leading scorer, rebounder and shot blocker while hitting 52% of her shots from the field.
From there should be a variety of players that bring a variety of different skillsets on any given night. Maya and Addie Lawrie, Emma Holtzapfel, Ryan Burden, Megan McGraw, Amelia Stallard, Jocelyn LaBordeaux-Humphrey, Tori Lenihan, Riley Eberhard, Sarah Young and Erin McGraw are all expected to play key roles for the Pandas this season.
“If we stay the course, get support from the stands, play distraction-free and stay healthy, there’s a chance for a magical season, “Murphy said.
Notre Dame doesn’t shy away from the competition with their schedule and that won’t change. They’ll play in the Queen of the Commonwealth in December, face state powers Sacred Heart and George Rogers Clark in February that also includes Cooper and Ryle in back-to-back games in February.
Beechwood (9-22 in 2023-24)
Celeste Brockett takes over the program after Isaac Speicher guided the Tigers for the past three seasons. Brockett’s pedigree will certainly have a young Beechwood team’s attention.
Brockett played at Holmes before going on to continue her career at Old Dominion University, where she was Colonial Athletic Association player of the year three times. After her playing career in college and overseas, Brockett coached the Holmes girls team from 2004-08.
She’ll inherit a team that has six freshman, four sophomores, one junior and three seniors.
The injury bug hit Beechwood hard last season as they started 4-4, but lost 18 of their last 23 games with a depleted roster.
With the injuries, including the graduated Riley Boyd, it meant they had to put girls in the rotation if they were ready or not. With six of their eight returning that played in at least 24 games, Beechwood should show an improved product on the court this season.