The Nansemond-Suffolk Academy girls’ basketball team has clearly been on the ascent for the last few years.

It won the Tidewater Conference of Independent Schools tournament championship in 2014 and advanced as far as the Virginia Independent Schools Athletic Association Division II state semifinals.

It reached its first state title game ever in 2015, though it lost to The Miller School of Albemarle 57-25.

It won the TCIS tournament championship in 2016 and returned to the state title game on Saturday, falling to Miller School by only five points this time.

Coming so close this year may have made the finish all the more agonizing, but that doesn’t mean the team doesn’t find the remarkable trajectory of their journey is well worth celebrating.

The journey for the girls on the team is also something far more personal than that which could be conveyed on a scoreboard, like the one on Saturday that said 46-41.

“I think Caroline (Hogg) said it in the locker room that years down the road, they’ll remember the memories they made together versus the final score,” NSA coach Kim Aston said.

For half a decade, the Lady Saints have benefited from the talents of point guard Harper Birdsong. She shined in her final high school season and led all scorers on Saturday with 23 points, shooting 50 percent from the field.

She will graduate later this year as a five-year letterman in the sport, having completed an extended and important varsity journey with Coach Aston.

“It feels good because I’ve recognized at such a young age, for Harper, how good she could be, and she didn’t realize that when she first started playing on the varsity team, and it just feels really good to see her reach her full potential,” Aston said.

“She got better and better every year, and not many high school players can say that,” the coach continued. “Every single year, you can see a step-up in her game. If she continues to do that at the next level, I think really great things are in store for her.”

Birdsong has signed to play college basketball for George Washington University.

After the state title game on Saturday, Birdsong took a moment to look back on her time as a Lady Saint and sum it up.

“I think me and Caroline just changed the program, and I’m just really grateful to be able to play for such a great coach and with such great people, and that’s the most important thing — not necessarily winning,” she said. “That would have been really awesome, obviously, but looking back on my time, it’s been a really great experience.”