TOP 10 STORIES OF THE YEAR : 30 Victories in the Midst of Adversity

It wasn’t so much what the Alemany High girls’ basketball team did last season. It was the way the Indians did it.

Posting a 30-1 record, winning a Southern Section Division II-A championship, and advancing to the State Division II semifinals are noteworthy events, to be sure.

But rare is the team that endured a more-trying season than the Indians.

In mid-December, Coach Melissa Hearlihy gave birth to her first child. Despite undergoing a Cesarean section, she returned to coach only five days later.

In less than a month, the Northridge earthquake hit. The school and its gym were heavily damaged and were closed.

Students attended classes in portable trailers, while the Indians were forced to practice on outdoor courts and play at random gyms around the Valley. And later, a starting guard was injured and lost for the season.

But no team persevered like Alemany, which won 30 consecutive games before losing to Irvine Woodbridge by five points, one game short of the state final.

“The kids have accomplished so much, it’s hard to be upset,” Hearlihy said.

“They’ve always given everything they had.”