HANCEVILLE — Good Hope’s varsity girls entered the 2024-25 season embracing the outside noise.

Surely the Raiders couldn’t make it back to Birmingham — not after losing four seniors as proficient as Ivey Maddox, Bailey Tetro, Heather Tetro and Charly Johnson off last year’s state championship team.

No way they’d put themselves in a position to reach a second straight Final Four — not with Justin Aby needing to rely so heavily upon inexperienced, albeit skilled, varsity players.

Indeed, ask those inside the Red and White locker room and there’d likely be a collective response — nobody believes in us but us. 

That unwavering faith in themselves shone through when it mattered most on Tuesday.

Sophie Konrad spearheaded a balanced offensive outing with a team-high 16 points, Good Hope’s defense played with its customary tenacity and the Class 4A No. 4 Raiders rolled to a 70-50 win over No. 3 Deshler in the Northwest Regional Tournament to punch their ticket to Legacy Arena.

“This group almost kind of took it as a challenge,” Aby said following the game. “Like, ‘Hey, they don’t think we’re going to be good anymore because we graduated so many girls.’ They took it personally. But what people don’t understand is these are the same girls who went up against those seniors every day at practice. They got to see some of the best players in the state last year — and that did nothing but make them better.”

The Raiders, who had six players score at least seven points, garnered success offensively in a variety of ways.

Aby’s squad attacked the Deshler press all game long, finishing with 18 fast-break points. The Raiders also netted 16 points off 12 turnovers, won the paint battle 26-16, corralled 14 second-chance points and went 22 of 26 from the free-throw line. Their bench even outscored Deshler’s reserves 12-0.

“We were balanced,” Aby said. “Obviously, a lot of teams are going to be focused on Ava (McSwain), but when we’re scoring like that and attacking like that, we’re a very hard team to guard. Sophie hit shots, Lexi (Marshall) was so good, Ella (Gossett) handled the ball, Jolee (McHan) was good in the post and Lucie (Adams) was good off the bench. When everyone is contributing like that, we’re a tough team to beat.”

McSwain, who dealt with early foul trouble, praised her team’s cohesiveness.

“We were ready all day and ready all week (for Deshler),” she said. “When we come out strong, I feel like it gets the other team down. I’m super proud of my teammates. Everybody scored for us and everybody had contributions for us.”

Konrad, meanwhile, posited the reason behind Good Hope’s excellent performance.

“We talked about them all week at practice,” she said of the Tigers, “and came out with the W.”

McSwain (15), Marshall (12) and Adams (12) joined Konrad in double figures. Gossett (eight) and McHan (seven) rounded out the scoring for the Raiders, who improved to 27-5.

McSwain, who eclipsed 2,500 career points during the victory, notched Northwest Regional MVP honors for the second straight season. She was joined on the All-Tournament Team by Konrad and Adams.

Good Hope now turns its attention to Birmingham and a possible repeat.

The Raiders will play No. 8 St. Michael, which beat Orange Beach 35-30 in overtime to win the South Regional, on Tuesday at 3 p.m.

For now, though, they’ll enjoy the win and remind themselves what they’re playing for each time out.

“To God be the glory,” Aby said. “In the good times and the bad times, we want to make sure to give Him thanks to be able to perform on the big stage in front of our family and friends.”