City of Basketball Love

Andrew Robinson (@ADrobinson3)
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RADNOR — Maeve McErlane is determined to have a banner finish to her high school career.

Despite her Academy of Notre Dame team sharing the best record in the Inter-Ac with Penn Charter a year ago, the league didn't crown an official champion for the 2020-21 season, leaving the Irish's gym devoid of a new title banner since 1999. The senior guard's future is secure with a commitment locked in at DePaul, but she knows it'll bother her if she leaves the Main Line without snapping that championship drought and is ready to go all-in over the next few weeks to do it.

McErlane has made herself into a Division I player by not shying away from uncomfortable situations but she's plenty comfortable saying it's Inter-Ac title or bust before she heads off to Chicago.

"We had the greatest energy and hard-working mentality you could possibly imagine so we've just turned all that hard work and all that energy toward putting a real banner in our gym," McErlane said after Sunday's 39-37 loss to Sanford (Del.) in the Hoops for Hope showcase at Cabrini. "We've really come together and understand you win and you lose as a team. We take that into every game, like today, it was a team loss but we played really tough, worked our butts off and I think our team atmosphere is what makes us so successful."

The 5-foot-10 guard, who plays a bit of point and a bit of off-guard for coach Lauren Power, truly does it all for the Irish. She's a great shooter and a clutch one, hitting a couple of timely 3-pointers on Sunday, but she can also handle the ball and dish it, rebounds and is the team's best defender as evidenced by her chase-down block of a would-be layup attempt against Sanford.

McErlane, who played with the Comets' 2022 national roster the past few years, thinks like a coach on the court. She noted a lot of the Irish's plays are designed for her, but she's fine with switching someone else, like fellow guard Julia Dever, to her spot to run them because her defenders usually aren't going to leave her, even if she doesn't have the ball.

"My biggest thing is now trying to let the game come to me and not trying to force up too many shots," McErlane said. "We're better when I'm keeping my teammates involved and passing the ball around because I know I'll get it back in my hands one way or another. Sharing the ball keeps the defense really honest and that only helps our team."

Power called McErlane one of the most mentally tough players she's ever coached and felt the senior has really excelled with that mindset of just taking what the defense gives her. The fact that her best player is willing to do the little things means if she does it, then the rest of the team is more likely to follow suit

"We've talked about it enough that we haven't hung a banner since 1999 and I know she wants it, probably more than anyone," Power said. "I think she's willing that onto the other girls. Every team goes through their own adversity and ups and downs, we had a great game against GA then followed it with a rough game against Penn Charter. I felt like we responded here today and the reason for that was Maeve's leadership."

McErlane saw herself as a Division I player from the first grade, but a lot of people say that and only a select group actually go on to do it. For the Drexel Hill native, that meant embracing the uncomfortable.

"The secret to getting there is being uncomfortable," McErlane said. "A lot of people, they'll work on what they're good at and if you just keep doing that, you're not going to grow as a player."

McErlane (above) competing with Notre Dame at the USciences preseseason shootout in October. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

That stretched from the basics, like dribbling a ball between her legs over and over and over again until she could do it without thinking, no matter how many times she gaffed and either dribbled it off a leg or foot to the more competitive as she did a few summers back jumping in with a group of male players ranging from high-level high school prospects to establish Division I and II players for some pick-up runs over in Wilmington, Delaware.

It was after her younger brother Taig's team practice had ended when the group coming in asked Maeve if she wanted to play and while it was intimidating at first, she kept showing up.

"It really changed my mindset," McErlane said. "I had to become a very aggressive player so I wouldn't have the ball get stripped from me. I was showing up and I was scared the first couple times but I feel like I really used that uncomfortable feeling and it really helped me grow my game."

She also got an up-close look at what it took coming up in the Notre Dame program. As a freshman, she got to match up with Irish standouts Mandy McGurk (Penn) and Maggie Pina (Boston University) on a daily basis, then shared the court with them playing off their strengths which in turn helped her build confidence in her own ability.

Having a pair of future Division I teammates at her position let McErlane serve as an observer, at least for a year but now she's in that same position. Passing the torch on is what keeps successful programs going and McErlane gave plenty of props to her teammates, the ones who get a lot of minutes and those that don't, for all doing their part to improve the team each day.

"I'm continuing to learn how to be a leader but I always felt like it was a big role for me that I had to step into," McErlane said. "Especially from sophomore year to now, I think I've grown a lot as a leader on and off the court. It was something I embraced; I had to wait my time a little bit to play my game, but at the end of the day, whether I have 30 points or 10, as long as we come out with the win and play team basketball, it's fine with me."

Power has seen it time and time again, from the free throws McErlane hit to go ahead late against Spring-Ford earlier this season to the numerous other clutch plays the guard has made so when the senior talks about putting up a banner, her coach knows she means it.

"She's been tremendous, everything I've asked of her, she's responded," Power said. "I coached in college for a while and what I've seen of her, she has 'it.' Her work ethic, how hard she goes in practice and even her mentality, she started this game tough, wasn't making shots and overcame it.

"The thing I love about her, she always wants to play the best teams. This is arguably the best schedule Notre Dame's ever had and this is a program that's traditionally been successful but having not hung a banner since 1999, in a way we're still learning how to win big games and she's willed us to a lot of them."

The goal for any prospective college athlete is to find the right fit, the program that feels tailor-made to their strengths and their goals while providing the opportunity to keep growing. For McErlane, that match was made in the Windy City with DePaul and coach Doug Bruno.

McErlane (above) played with the Comets Basketball program on the 17U Girls' Under Armour Association circuit in 2021. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

First, it met her desire to put a little distance between herself and home for her college experience in a city like Chicago. Second, it was like watching a team game built to the exact specifications of what she does best between the lines.

"You could just watch them and if you know what my game is like, I think I fit into their program really, really well," McErlane said. "They're strong with transition play but also giving players the green light, which is something I really appreciate. The talks I had with coach Bruno and the entire staff, I knew I wanted to go there.

"Coach Bruno, he knows so much about the game and it was really inspiring to me even just through the phone calls we had. I committed before my official visit but once I was there, it was home to me."

The Irish (10-3, 4-1) took one on the chin last week when they lost their first meeting with Penn Charter (11-3, 5-1) to fall a game back in the Inter-Ac standings, but got a little bit of an assist from another rival when Germantown Academy (9-5, 3-2) knocked off the Quakers on Friday night to tilt the league table and bring ND back on level terms with PC. Notre Dame will still have to take care of business, including their own second go-rounds with GA, PC and Episcopal Academy (9-4, 2-2) but the path to a banner is in the Irish's hands.

McErlane wouldn't want it any other way.

"GA, it was like they handed us a piece of cake or something to go and get this league," McErlane said. "I feel this game got us back to Notre Dame basketball, I think we were shying away from that and every team goes through their bumps but now we're back where we need to be and hopefully we can go get the wins we need and put up a banner.

"One of the goals going into my freshman year was to get an Inter-Ac and a PAISAA championship, we felt like we could have done it last year but fortunately we have another chance and I know this whole team is really looking forward to that."