SOUTH BEND ― The offseason leading up to the 2025-26 South Bend Riley girls basketball campaign was not what it should have been.
The Wildcats already knew they would have some growing pains after losing eight seniors from last season’s squad, a group that finished with Riley’s first winning season since 2019-20 and compiled the most wins in a year since 2002-03.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThey didn’t expect head coach Karl Columbus to nearly lose his job after leading Riley to such success. Columbus’ termination was on the agenda at a September South Bend Community School Corporation board meeting, and the head coach who led the Wildcats to 16 wins in his second season ― breaking a streak of four straight three-win seasons ― thought it was over for him.
A former senior’s parent brought an incident involving the removal and reported degrading of a player by Columbus during a game in December 2024 to the attention of the board. It didn’t look good for Columbus.
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But graduating seniors and the few returners Riley had left attended that September meeting, wearing custom-made T-shirts and holding handmade signs in support of Columbus. Ultimately, the decision on Columbus’ future was tabled that night, and it was never discussed at another board meeting.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementHe’s now seven games deep into a third season leading the Wildcats, and Columbus is still touched by the support he has received from most of the Riley girls basketball community throughout an uncertain offseason.
“It’s the reason I’m back,” Columbus said. “If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t have fought as hard. I would have been content moving on, going to try to coach somewhere else. [It] showed me that no matter what we go through throughout this season, we can always come together. If they’re going to fight for me like that outside, I know what they’re going to do for me on the court, and I just have to reciprocate that same energy for them.
“You can ask my fiancé ― there’s sleepless nights when I’m up watching film. I really want to be great at this, and I’m not going to stop until I am.”
Rallying around coach Columbus
Aneesa Kenny, one of two returning seniors from last year’s group, never wavered in her advocacy for Columbus to keep his job. She has been a part of the Wildcats’ program before Columbus was hired at Riley, and Kenny said the girls basketball team’s newfound development is mostly thanks to Columbus’ passion.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement“Everybody who has him as a coach thinks of him as a father figure,” Kenny said. “I think everybody needs a coach to be hard on them, because if you don’t have someone pushing you to be the best that they know you can be, how are you going to get better?”
It’s not just established Wildcats who have a strong relationship with their head coach. Riley brought in a number of transfers from other area schools to help fill gaps left by last year’s eight seniors, the most notable of which being Mishawaka transfer Tinayja Summers.
Junior Tinayja Summers dribbles down the court during a South Bend Riley vs. Bremen girls basketball game December 2, 2025, at Riley High School.When she was with the Cavemen, she saw from afar that Riley was building something promising. She remembers watching film of last season’s team, hoping that she could be a part of something similar.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementWhile the Wildcats are only 2-4 to start this season, wins and losses weren’t all Summers was looking for. She wanted a bond with her teammates, and a coach who would help her reach her ceiling.
“He’s tough ― he does not play,” Summers said. “You can’t be sensitive with coaching like this, but it helps me way more. It helps this team.”
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Much of the identity built by last season’s team has carried over to this mostly new group. Kenny was nervous, however, that the team chemistry last year’s group had might not carry over with such a new group in 2025-26.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementIt’s undoubtedly not the same, and it was never going to be. Last season’s success and tight-knit bond was the culmination of three previous years of losing together.
Tinayja Summers (left) and Aneesa Kenny (right) talk during a South Bend Riley vs. Bremen girls basketball game December 2, 2025, at Riley High School.This season’s group has had to make efforts to form team chemistry and do it fast. They’re walking together in the hallways at school, going to the movies together and doing anything possible to get to know each other.
“As soon as this team gets close, I don’t think anybody can break that bond,” Kenny said. “When you’re playing basketball, you don’t want to pass it to somebody you don’t trust. If you don’t trust them outside of basketball, why would you trust them in basketball?”
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe glue at the center of this Riley girls basketball team, whether it lives up to the precedent last year’s group set or not, is Columbus. And while he has seen that the 2025-26 group can handle when he’s tough on them, he’s changing his ways a bit too.
“Sometimes, yelling and screaming isn’t always necessary,” Columbus said. “You have to find different ways to communicate and relate to them. To see them buying in, that shows me it's working.”
Riley trailed Bremen 51-27 heading into the fourth quarter of a December 2 contest, and while many of the Lions’ starters didn’t play more than a couple of minutes during the final period, the Wildcats finished the final eight minutes on a 16-6 run. The chances to win were slim, but the effort was there when many teams would have been content with rolling over to accept defeat.
That’s a personification of the 2025-26 Riley girls basketball team, one that will be underdogs in most games they’ll play in, but one that will fight regardless.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement“We’re powerful,” Summers said. “We go hard for everything we do."
Kyle Smedley is a sports reporter at the South Bend Tribune. Contact him via email at [email protected] or follow him on X @KyleSmedley03.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: South Bend Riley girls basketball believes in its 'powerful' identity
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