With a district playoff berth on the line, their loss in the regular-season finale at home was devastating. But the Catasauqua’s girls’ basketball figuratively was looking at the big picture.

They finished with an overall 10-12 record, their best mark since 2007-08. Catty did make it to the 2021 district playoffs, but that year was the open-tournament, COVID year. In that season, Catty went winless at 0-21. This season, Catty pieced together a five-game winning streak, their longest mark since they won 11 in a row in 2003-04.

Against Northwestern in the finale, head coach Mark Seremula watched his team make some unforced errors and also have trouble with the opponent’s pace.

“We couldn’t sustain their kind of output,” he said. “Their pressure was good, and we were able to beat it. We just made too many silly decisions.

“We were leading in the beginning of the game, but we couldn’t keep it going and fell behind 26-9 at halftime.”

With four starters back, Seremula sees a postseason trip in his future. The Rough Riders will lose current seniors Kaylee Weidaw, Briell Carvalho, Maddie Gonzalez, and Cora Soltis.

However, they will return three juniors and one freshman back to the court.

Freshman Hailey Jenkins was the team’s leading scorer, averaging 11.8 points per game. Juniors Sophia Becker (7.8) and Delaney Troxell (7.8 points) are back to provide more scoring punch. Becker was the team’s leading rebounder, averaging eight per contest, and she managed playing with a mask for a while due to a broken nose suffered just before Christmas.

“Hailey is the person who makes us go,” said Seremula. “She is working her way to becoming the best guard in the league. She is just so explosive and so fast. She knows she has to work on her jump shot.

“Sophia is also very aggressive, and she works very hard. She has worked to improve her low post game. She is a leader out there.

“Delaney also is a leader. She has worked on her shot, and she’ll take change when she needs to do it. She has a very good court presence.”

With most of the core back next year, Seremula sees a different path with the same goals. He stated the team wants to maintain its goal to have a winning record and qualify for the league and district playoffs.

This season, he was proud of his team averaging 35 points per game and allowing 32. That was a big difference from the minus-21 differential on the negative end two years ago when they were winless. Seremula also lauded the current junior class for their leadership.

“That’s the stat that really makes us proud,” he stressed. “Our decision making got better, and our man-to-man defense is still our bread and butter.

“We don’t know if we’ll enter summer leagues next year. We would rather play against two other teams in a scrimmage-type atmosphere. We’ll see if we can do it.

“But the girls made many strides, and they will be ready for next year.”