The Lady Royals head to the latter half of the season as one of the best girls basketball teams in the state of Indiana. In the latest IndyStar Fab 15 rankings that were released on January 11, girls basketball reporter Matthew VanTryon ranked HSE at number six. However, this season has been anything but normal and head coach Chris Huppenthal will be the first to tell you that.

“I am sure most coaches would tell you it has been a rollercoaster of a season,” Huppenthal said. “As far as our team, they have handled the adversity of COVID well. We try to focus on what we can control and take advantage of every opportunity we get in the gym. I have repeated in practices and before games, the end could abruptly happen at any time, so take advantage of today.”

Senior Lydia Self echoed the remarks of her coach when talking about playing during a worldwide pandemic.

“Playing during this pandemic had definitely been an interesting experience for everyone involved,” Self said. “With circumstances changing every single day and no guarantee of being able to practice or play the next day, it has definitely made us all more grateful for the time that we do have to do what we love.”

Despite these setbacks and struggles, the Royals haven’t slowed down, winning their last five games. Huppenthal praised the Lady Royals for their hard work throughout this season.

“In 25 years of coaching, these kids’ competitiveness and toughness have been present from Day 1,” Huppenthal said. “When programs lose as much as we did last year, they talk about rebuilding. Rebuilding is wasting your senior’s final year. We didn’t want to rebuild, we wanted to compete at the highest level. I think we have done that.”

Even though the COVID-19 pandemic is holding back some of the bonding time the team has outside of basketball, Self says that bonding this year has not been a difficult task for the team.

“In my four years in the basketball program at HSE, [bonding] has never been a problem,” Self said. “We have always been able to gel together so well on the court that it carried over off the court. This year is no different.”

The second half of the Royals schedule includes some more difficult conference games, including the postponed Mudsock game. The Lady Royals know they have many more tests ahead of them this season.