The St. Vincent-St. Mary girls basketball team knew it was good.
All it took was a trip back to Cali to solidify just how good.
The still undefeated Fighting Irish headed to the Golden Coast for the third year in a row to compete in the Chosen 1's Invitational and what they found out was they're fantastic.
"You don't know how you are until you travel with somebody," STVM coach Carley Whitney said. "I think that trip solidified our chemistry. I don't think it created our chemistry. It was an opportunity to get closer even though we thought we were close.
"It was an opportunity to show how close we are. It wasn't redemption. We've gone down there and haven't played well. It was a business trip for us. Some of these girls might never be there. They might never fly on an airplane again. It's my job to expose them to environments and opportunities they may not have outside of Akron, Ohio. We're going to use that trip to take advantage of seeing the sights, but it was an opportunity for us to show that girls basketball at St. Vincent-St. Mary is present."
The tournament was put on by NBA great and STVM graduate LeBron James in partnership with Nike and was held at the Galen Center at USC.
The Irish stayed in California from Dec. 18-21 and spent time at the Santa Monica Pier, had study table overlooking Los Angeles, went shopping, practiced at USC and ate as a team.
When they played Fairmont Prep (Cal.) the Irish showed just how good they are with a 53-34 win.
"They've been close since the summer," Whitney said. "We have a standard here and we don't ever want to feel the way we felt at the end of last season, knowing you could have won. It was leaving that game feeling like there was something left in the tank."
The end of 2022-23 Whitney was referring to was a 44-43 regional semifinal loss to Bryan where a last-second shot drew iron and left STVM wondering what if.
The Golden Bears earned the win thanks to a lethargic start by the Irish, but it left an empty feeling for all involved wearing green and gold.
"I want to go out with a bang this year," senior Erica King said. "I don't want to go out like last year where we know we could have played better. It drives you to be better, so you can get to that state championship and be at that level in the playoffs."
Fast forward and STVM (7-0) is averaging a little over 61 points per game and winning by a margin of almost 34 points.
The points come from everywhere with King (10.3), Melania Cornute (9.1), Kendal Batchik (8.3), KaMiah Pryor (8.3) and Jaciee Wallace (8.0) leading the way.
The defense forces nearly 24 turnovers a game.
It turned Shaker Heights over 29 times in the first half of a 38-point win on Wednesday in yet another contest that turned into a running clock.
"I've known since the summer we have something special," Batchik said. "We all came together as a team. We know we want to get to that state championship this year. We really love to play team basketball and you've seen that throughout the year."
Just don't start talking about March to Whitney just yet.
The veteran coach has been around the game her entire life and won't look past Saturday and a home game against Toledo Start.
"We know what our goal is, and we do things daily to get that goal," she said. "We want to be 1-0 every day. You have to win practice. You have to win opportunities. You have to win in the classroom. To win a state championship is hard. You have to prepare the right way. You may need things to go your way, but we're one day at a time."
Contact Brad Bournival at bbournival@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter at @bbournival
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: St. Vincent-St. Mary High School girls basketball's undefeated start
