A minivan belonging to Notre Dame fans who made the trip to see the Lady Bulldogs play in the Class 2A Final Four in Columbia this weekend showed its allegiance by proclaiming "Notre Dame is No. 1" in shoe polish on the windows.

After Notre Dame lost to a very talented Urbana Skyline team 61-45 in the championship game Saturday night, the owner of the minivan crossed out the "1" and replaced it with a "2."

That fan wasn't ashamed in the least about Notre Dame's runner-up finish -- and the Lady Bulldogs surely shouldn't be either.

After being forgotten for the most part this season -- Notre Dame's absence from any and all polls has been well chronicled -- the Lady Bulldogs came out of relative obscurity and battled its way to the title game.

"A second-place finish for us was a good season," said coach Jerry Grim. ". . . when we weren't even ranked in the top 10 in southeast Missouri, to come in second in the state, I think that speaks very good for the girls."

Notre Dame will not be overlooked next season -- the Lady Bulldogs will be heavy favorites to repeat as district champions, and its third trip to Columbia in the last four years seems likely at this moment.

Notre Dame will have four of its top six scorers back. Three starters, Melissa Maurer, Rachael Schlosser and Randi Senciboy, will return. The three were the team's top three scorers this season; Senciboy (11 points per game) will be a junior and Maurer and Schlosser (9 ppg. each) will both be seniors.

The Lady Bulldogs will lose starters Amanda Lange, a 6-foot center, and guard Tracy Blattel, who both averaged eight points per game. Jennifer Glueck will likely take Blattel's place in the staring lineup and 5-10 Olivia Beel might replace Lange.

The bench for Notre Dame will likely be comprised of 5-10 Jill Huber and three players who were brought up from the JV for the state tournament and will be juniors next year -- Erin Vickery, Sara Westrich and Suzanne Schwartz.