Detroit -- Following a grueling tournament, and still basking in the glow of their state championship last weekend, Divine Child Falcons head basketball coach Mary Laney said playing in a tough Catholic League helped her team realize its goal.

“This is such a special group,” Laney said, flanked by senior Hayley Stempien and junior Rosanna Reynolds at the postgame press conference after the state championship game at the Breslin Center in East Lansing on March 19. “There were so many nights (we were) taking our Catholic League lumps, that I kept pushing through, thinking, ‘They deserve it. They’re going to earn it.’ And I had to convince them that the Catholic League is only going to help us, and the central division is only going to help us, and if they keep battling they will get to experience it.”

Experience it they did. The Falcons handed Three Rivers High School their first loss of the season on Saturday, by a 43-35 score, to seal the championship.

“We played great, and I couldn’t be happier,” said Reynolds, who led all scorers with 21 points in the championship game.

Cara Miller grabbed 14 boards and scored 6 in the winning effort; Stempien had 7 rebounds and six points in the final game.

What’s more, Divine Child earned won their championship game on the heels of a double-overtime semifinals matchup on Friday night with Goodrich – a game they won 54-52, also at Michigan State University’s Breslin Center.

Reynolds added that the training the team did prior to the school year paid off all these months later when it came to keeping their stamina.

“Playing in the summer three games a day helped us out a lot,” she said.

As had been the case all season, Reynolds came up big against Goodrich, scoring 28 for that game in 36 minutes of play.