Of all the lessons they learned this season, one seemed to stand above all others for the Warren Central Lady Vikes.

It’s time to grow up.

The Lady Vikes finished their season with a 53-44 loss to Callaway in the first round of the Class 6A state tournament last week. It was a step forward for the program, which hadn’t made it past the division tournament round since 2012, but the final game of the season was also riddled with youthful mistakes.

To take the next step, they know those are the kinds of things they have to eliminate before the 2016-17 season tips off in November.

“Definitely, we can build off this and learn from our mistakes. We should be ready to go now. We’ve gotten through our young stages. We should be mature enough and mentally ready and prepared for anything that comes,” sophomore center Amber Gaston said. “Most of us being sophomores, this is our year to finally leap over that juvenile stage. So next year we should be going full throttle.”

The future seems incredibly bright for the Lady Vikes. This year’s roster had only one junior and no seniors, meaning they can plan on a two-year run toward a state championship.

Besides being young, the team is also deep. Coach Jackie Martin-Glass used an eight-player rotation down the stretch that included freshman point guard Te’Asia Sms and eighth-grade forward Aniya Sanders.

Sims started. Sanders came off the bench and had seven rebounds and five steals in a division tournament win over Clinton.

“I like the fact I have some players that have a lot of upside,” Martin-Glass said. “I brought an eighth-grader (Aniya Sanders) up and a point guard that is a ballhandler (Sims) and she’s in ninth grade. With all of them being sophomores and juniors, I see huge upsides.”

While Sims and Sanders will be key players next season, the core of the team is its 10-person sophomore class. T.T. Sims — Te’Asia’s older sister — led the Lady Vikes with 9.7 points per game and Dee Dee Caldwell averaged 9.0.

Cocoa Fultz only averaged 3.8 points per game, but scored 19 and 13 in the last two games.

How that group develops over the summer will certainly determine whether WC regresses or progresses.

“When we come back next year, we’re not young anymore,” Martin-Glass said. “We have juniors and seniors. The way we feel right now, if we feed and build off this feeling then maybe you won’t like being in the same situation.”

In the aftermath of their state tournament loss to Callaway, the Lady Vikes seemed to know what they needed to do.

They finished 18-12 this season, their best record since the 2008-09 team won 24 games. It was also the first time the program has had back-to-back winning seasons in six seasons under Martin-Glass, and the first time it has escaped the division tournament since 2012.

Next year isn’t necessarily a make-or-break year, Martin-Glass said. It is important, however, to keep moving forward.

“I see there’s stepping stones. So maybe this next year we’re going to get further than we got this year. But it’s all depending on how they take this and how hard they work before November. We can’t just go take a break because we’re already behind in some areas,” Martin-Glass said. “So I see it as a building block. Even if you can make it to the Coliseum next year and not win it, maybe your senior year is when you win it. There’s some steps you’ve got to take.”