Every story from Peoria Notre Dame's run to the Class 2A girls basketball championship
The Peoria Notre Dame Irish finished 34-4 and won the Class 2A girls basketball state championship in 2023-24, the program's first title.
Coach Layne Langholf and the Irish — led by first-team all-stater and Eastern Kentucky signee Mya Wardle — took the CEFCU Arena court and defeated Nashville 48-46 on March 2 in Normal.
Let's look back at their run through the 2023-24 regular season and playoffs. Below is every story we've written and tons of the photos from this season involving the No. 1-ranked Irish — including preseason prognostications, player profiles, playoff performances and more.
Looking for all the Notre Dame scores? Regular season | Playoffs
The playoffs
Notre Dame earned its first trip to state in 30 years and capped it as the Class 2A state champion. Here are links to each game story and accompanying previews and features along the way.
POSTSEASON
Can the Irish repeat? 3 reasons why Notre Dame is favored to return to the state finals
Journal Star Player of the Year and all-area team: Coming soon
STATE FINALS
Notre Dame 48, Nashville 46: How a sister's trust powered Notre Dame to a basketball state title
'CROWN THESE QUEENS': How Twitter reacted to Notre Dame's dramatic IHSA title win
Notre Dame 71, Wilmette Regina Dominican 25: Notre Dame rolls into Class 2A state championship game
STATE FINALS PREVIEWS
Who's going to win? Outlook and prediction for the IHSA girls basketball state finals
All-state: Which Notre Dame players were named to the honor lists? Media | Coaches
SUPERSECTIONAL
Notre Dame 55, Rock Island Alleman 39: Notre Dame advances to the IHSA state finals: 'Not done yet'
SECTIONALS
Notre Dame 59, Dee-Mack 37: One big reason Notre Dame keeps playing like a state title contender
Notre Dame 64, Bloomington Central Catholic 31: Irish roll into Sweet 16 with win over BCC
REGIONALS
Notre Dame 66, Sherrard 33: Notre Dame returns to sectional level for first time since 2014
Playoff preview: What's it like being No. 1? Notre Dame girls are finding out one game at a time
Path to Normal: Can Notre Dame make it to state? Let's take a look at the path
The regular season
Notre Dame was the unbeaten Big 12 Conference champion, earning the school its first B12 title after defeating Class 3A and 4A competition. PND opened at No. 4 statewide in Class 2A and ascended to No. 1 on Jan. 17 — staying there through the season. The Irish were playing in Class 2A for the first time.
Notre Dame played in plenty of big games this season. Included was a huge matchup in late January against eventual unbeaten Class 3A state champ Lincoln — a game that came together rather quickly and ended up being played at Renaissance Coliseum on the campus of Bradley University.
Lincoln 63, Notre Dame 52: Notre Dame proves its resolve one state-ranked opponent at a time
Preview: How 2 of the state's best teams lined up a girls basketball game at Bradley
Notre Dame this season was inspired in part by Dylan Langholf, the son of coach Layne Langholf. Dylan was sidelined from the PND boys basketball team amidst weeks of chemotherapy for embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma, a cancer found in soft tissues like muscle, blood vessels or tendons. As of late January, the 17-year-old had completed two-thirds of the treatments.
No one brought more toughness and leadership to the Irish than senior all-stater Mya Wardle, who was joined this season with freshman sister Emy Wardle. Adam Duvall wrote about the sisters earlier in the season.
Read more: Sisterly bond something special for Notre Dame's newest teammates
College decision: How Mya Wardle chose a place to play college basketball
From 2023: A Division I prospect. A well-known father. Mya Wardle is writing her own story in Peoria
The photos
Here are links to the multiple photo galleries Matt Dayhoff shot throughout the 2023-24 season.
Photo galleries: State championship | State semifinals | Supers | vs. Lincoln
The preseason
Expectations were high for Notre Dame in November when we picked it atop the small-school power rankings for Peoria-area girls basketball teams. "After moving down from 3A," Adam Duvall wrote, "the Irish are a legitimate contender to win the Class 2A state championship."
While we previewed all the top Peoria-area teams, we also selected the top players to watch around the area, including a trio of Notre Dame players.
This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Every story from Peoria Notre Dame's run to the IHSA girls basketball title
