Buckets came hard…St. Henry’s defenses collapses on the shot attempt by Marion’s Faith Ronnebaum. (Press Pros Feature Photos by Julie McMaken Wright)
Not a thing of beauty, nonetheless St. Henry scrapped and clawed for a while…then hung on to win on the road at Marion Local to gain the chair at the head of the table.
Maria Stein, OH – Afterwards, St. Henry coach Nate Uhlenhake would cite his girls for working hard, playing defense, and getting enough key baskets along the way to eke out a 41-36 win Thursday night over Marion Local (16-2, 6-1 in MAC).
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And sometimes that’s all it takes. An athletic group that always plays hard, St. Henry (15-3, 8-0 in MAC) didn’t have one of their better nights…just good enough.
Defense, yes. And, some well-placed and timely early three-point buckets from Alexis Buschur, Addy Homan, Morgan Baumer, and Ava Homan that in the end spelled the difference.
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It wasn’t, to be sure, something that would have motivated Shakespeare, but sometimes all you need is a good ending…and Karlee and Alexis Buschur saw to that.
In a game that Marion never led, it took four possessions before anyone scored a bucket. And the three-pointers by Morgan Baumer, Addy and Ava Homan spelled the difference at halftime when St. Henry oozed out to a 26-19 lead.
“We left too many points on the floor in the first quarter,” said Marion coach Beth Streib. She was being conservative.
Turnovers, or unforced errors, or maybe St. Henry’s own defensive effort had Marion trying to play at 45 speed on a 33 rpm turntable.
St. Henry, in the meantime, was shooting just enough, along with the afore-mentioned threes, to manage a lead.
St. Henry’s Molly Wendel scores a first half bucket to push the Redskins to a 26-19 halftime lead.
And here’s why Streib was being conservative about leaving points on the floor.
Marion didn’t score at all in the third quarter until after the 4:00 mark, and then found the bucket for just four points in the eight minutes. St. Henry could have run away, but didn’t…a credit to Marion’s defensive intensity. Still, St. Henry found a way to score 8 points off a pair of Molly Wendel buckets to take a 34-23 lead by quarter’s end, the Redskins’ biggest margin of the game.
And then…what goes around, comes around. Marion scored first to open the fourth quarter while holding St. Henry scoreless for five minutes. Kalyn Thobe threw in a long three-pointer, St. Henry quickly picked up five fouls to put Marion in the bonus, and the Flyers began whittling away at the Redskins’ lead from the foul line. Avae Unrast would convert five of six tries…while Mya Eckstein hit three of four.
On the other end, Karlee Buschur finally hit a layup in the lane to break the ice for St. Henry, and Leah Lefeld hit one of two free throws…but with :40 secs left in the game Marion had all the momentum, but trailed, 38-36.
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They would get no closer, albeit they had plenty of chances at their own end. An empty possession with 20 seconds remaining, with three missed shots off offensive rebounds, forced Marion to foul Alexis Buschur with twelve seconds remaining. Buschur when to the line, hit the pair, and gave St. Henry breathing room at 40-36.
Marion Local heaved a wild three-point attempt with five seconds remaining, but that was rebounded by Buschur, who was fouled, promptly hit one of two from the line, and the clock ran out on a 41-36 St. Henry win.
Marion Local’s Avae Unrast hits a twisting shot for two of her team-high 13 points in Thursday’s loss to St. Henry.
Avae Unrast would score 13 points to lead Marion Local, complemented by Mya Eckstein’s 11, but the rest of the lineup failed to support. Kalyn Thobe’s 7 points were the closest to double figures of the remaining scorers.
St. Henry had no one finish in double figures, but was balanced with 9 from Morgan Baumer and Molly Wendel, 6 from Addy Homan, 5 each by Karlee Buschur and Ava Homan, and 7 points, combined, from Alexis Buschur and Leah Lefeld.
“We knew it was going to be a battle,” said Beth Streib, afterwards. “If you look at the MAC stats you see Marion Local and St. Henry at the top of the list in offense and defense. They shot better than we did and they made more plays. The three-pointers they made turned out to be a difference…and the last time we played them we made the three-pointers and they were something like 1 for 16.”
But regardless of what it looks like at the time, it’s a thing of beauty when you win.
Defense seemed to be the theme…St. Henry’s Leah Lefeld smothers a Flyer’s shot attempt.
“The girls put in all the work and it’s good to see their efforts rewarded,” said Nate Uhlenhake.
“I couldn’t be more proud of their effort. We had a lot of people step up throughout the game, we struggled at certain points, we responded at certain points, and that’s really how our season has gone. Every point mattered, and the threes were important. The last time we played them we were 0 for 16. We definitely had some cold streaks, but they’re a good team, well-coached, and it’s always good to beat a team like that. They played super hard.”
St. Henry now sits undefeated in the league while Marion has the one loss, but the Flyers are by no means finished. They have remaining games with Minster and Coldwater, while St. Henry has one remaining league game with Parkway.
Uhlenhake, who rarely smiles, finally grinned at the irony of how it happened…to have lost an 11-point lead in the fourth quarter and still survive TO smile.
Sometimes, you see…all it takes is a good ending.
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