The Joliet Catholic girls basketball team has already surpassed its win total from last year and the year before that. They’re two wins away from equaling the combined total of those years. But this is still a young team with freshmen and sophomores playing key minutes.

That much was evident amid a three-game losing skid entering Wednesday evening’s matchup. The hope for the Angels was they’d knock off Marian Catholic in Chicago Heights to snap the losing streak.

Instead, they saw it stretch to four games as the Spartans got the win 41-26.

Joliet Catholic (10-10) has experienced lows this season, including back-to-back 30-point losses to Providence and Nazareth in early December. However, the year has mostly been positive in comparison to recent times. After winning just five games two years ago and seven the previous year, they reached 10 victories before January, demonstrating tremendous growth.

Growth is rarely linear, however, as JCA is still seeking its first win of 2026.

“There were some good moments early in the second half,” coach Matthew Adler said. “We just faltered with Marian’s length and athletic ability. That just really hindered us and kept us from getting into a rhythm.”

The three losses entering Wednesday for JCA came against Carmel, Joliet Central and Benet Academy. All three were by 19 or more points.

One big difference in Wednesday’s loss was the resiliency the Angels showed. The first half was unkind to them as Marian Catholic scored the first seven points. They held JCA without a basket until 3:30 remained in the period. The Angels didn’t score again until Keltz’s layup with 45 seconds to go, but that cut it to just 14-4.

Keltz sank another layup 24 seconds after that to get the JCA bench feeling confident. Ty Jackson hit a three with nine seconds left in the first to put the Spartans up 17-6 heading into the second.

The second quarter wasn’t much better. The Angels trailed 21-10 midway through the quarter and 25-12 at the break. But again, they showed resiliency. They actually outscored the Spartans in the third quarter 9-7. Outside of Jackson, the defense held Marian scoreless for the quarter.

The offense never caught fire, but they still got the game back within seven and held the Spartan offense without any points for the first four minutes of the fourth quarter. The result was the closest contest JCA has had this month. They’ll hope it’s a sign that things are beginning to turn around for them to get back on track.

“We just have to move the ball around,” Keltz said. “We need to make sure that we look at the open gaps and see the floor more.”

Next up for JCA will be a trip to Marist on Saturday. The RedHawks are 17-4 this season so will be a tough task. Still, Keltz expressed confidence that the group will get things going again very soon.

“We just need to be consistent in our competitiveness,” Adler said. “Regardless of our opponent, style of defense, size, speed, ability, our competitive nature has to stay the same from game to game.”

Johnson led Marian with 18 points. JCA was led by Gabrielle Gavin with eight.