Eudora’s Emily Watson still remembers being on the end of the bench for a significant win during her freshman year.

The Cardinals took down Spring Hill on Senior Night to net their first league win in six years. Watson remembers celebrating in the locker room after the monumental win. Fast-forward four years, and EHS has even more to celebrate.

Eudora is headed to the Class 4A state tournament, which marks the program’s first state berth since 2009.

“It really took me back, and I’m just thinking about how far we have come,” said Watson, who is now a senior.

But the growth of the program wasn’t developed overnight. This has been several years in the making. The Cardinals posted a 12-10 record last year, netting their first winning record since the year they made it to the state tournament.

Eudora then took the next step by embracing a fearless mindset. This season, the Cardinals have been in a number of situations where they have had to mount a comeback in order to pull off the win.

In the season opener, Eudora was down 7 points with three minutes remaining and found a way to record a 54-47 win over Basehor-Linwood. EHS outlasted Bonner Springs in triple overtime and notched an overtime win over Holton.

“We don’t quit,” EHS coach Richard Ebel said. “Our work ethic has been really good, and that starts in the summer. A lot of these kids do two or three sports, so they don’t have any time off. If you work hard, it is pretty hard to surrender.”

Senior leadership by Watson and Madison Roether have been essential, but Eudora also has a nice blend of promising young talent.

Freshman Harper Schreiner has done a good job of setting everyone up as the team’s point guard. Juniors Riley Hiebert and Reagan Hiebert help the Cardinals play fast by getting out in transition. Sophomore Jayla Pierce and freshman Emma Durr have also provided plenty of production.

“Coach Ebel really came in and fixed the program, he changed the culture of the program,” Roether said.

Eudora, which is the eighth seed, will take on No. 1 Kansas City Piper (21-0) at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Tony’s Pizza Events Center in Salina.

The Cardinals have already played Piper twice this season, losing both meetings by double digits. Eudora actually was within striking distance in the second matchup, which is a credit to the team’s fearless mindset.

“It is just going to come down to who makes plays,” Ebel said.