Now the objective for the Hematites is to make sure it won’t take as long to win regional or state titles in the future.

As it should have been, the focus following Ishpeming’s 73-54 win over Kingston in the MHSAA Division 4 state championship game on Saturday was a senior class that will go down in the school record books as legendary after taking the program to heights never seen before.

The group of seven seniors — Jenna Maki, Addison Morton, Katie Kaukola, Kaitlyn Van Deuren, Payton Manninen, Lilly Swanson and Maia Hemmila — comprised the core of a team that went from five wins as freshmen to the pinnacle of the sport in Michigan this year as seniors.

The senior class will be remembered in the community forever.

Ishpeming's Jenessa Eagle, left, drives against Kingston defender Molly Walker in the first quarter of the MHSAA Division 4 state championship girls basketball game played at Michigan State University’s Breslin Center in East Lansing on Saturday. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

However, when the celebrations are over in the coming weeks, don’t think for a second that head coach Ryan Reichel and the Hematites will be waiting around for the 2024-25 season to start to keep the success going.

“As a coach, I’m already thinking what I have to do for the summer,” Reichel said.

Looking at the roster, Ishpeming should be well positioned to continue to stay among the state’s best.

Despite losing the senior class — led by Maki, the school’s all-time leading scorer — the cupboard will be far from bare for the Hematites.

Sophomore Jenessa Eagle actually led the team in scoring this year at over 16 points per game, and she’ll likely take over for Maki as the offensive leader for Ishpeming.

Ishpeming's Jenessa Eagle, right, rushes the ball up court while defended by Kingston's Molly Walker during the MHSAA Division 4 state championship girls basketball game played at Michigan State University’s Breslin Center in East Lansing on Saturday. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

Eagle certainly did that against Kingston, scoring a game-high 27 points and hitting 5 of 12 shots from 3-point range.

“We have a ton of girls coming up, and after them seeing this experience and us getting all of this attention and all of our community coming, they are going to be inspired by it,” Eagle said.

Mya Hemmer, a 6-foot-1 interior player who is also a sophomore, should be a force for the next couple of years as well after averaging over 10 points and seven rebounds a game this year. She had game highs of 13 rebounds and four blocked shots even as her team overall was outrebounded by nine in the state championship contest.

Juniors Peyton Kakkuri, Laynie Korpi and Journey Comment also could easily have expanded roles next year.

And make no mistake, there will be a plethora of younger players not on varsity this year who were inspired by the run to the championship and will want to make their own mark in the future.

Looking even further than that, the stands at Michigan State University’s Breslin Center were filled with young girls who looked at this group as heroes and will one day want to follow in their footsteps.

In other words, don’t expect this to be a one-year wonder for the Ishpeming program.

“This summer, we are really going to put on the pedal,” Hemmer said. “We got here and saw what we can do as a team. All the girls who are going to be on the team next year are going to put the pedal on this summer.”

Keith Dunlap also writes for the Michigan High School Athletic Association and several media and social media websites, and is a past sports writer for the Oakland Press. He wrote stories for The Mining Journal a year ago when the Munising High School boys basketball team played in the MHSAA Division 4 semifinals and finals in East Lansing.