St. Henry’s pressure defense turned the tables on Marion Local creating key turnovers and points in transition in the fourth quarter. (Press Pros Feature Photos)
They didn’t lead until the final three seconds in the third quarter. But St. Henry showed its resilience to remain unbeaten with a thrilling win over Marion Local.
St. Henry, OH – St. Henry girls coach Nate Uhlenhake admitted that it wasn’t one of the cleanest, or most efficient efforts amongst their now sixteen wins.
St. Henry’s 54-48 win Thursday night had its share of warts, including 23 minutes and 57 seconds of trailing the upset-minded Marion Local Flyers before the Redskins enjoyed their first lead. And that was only fleeting.
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“But give credit to Marion Local,” he said. “They’re a good basketball team and they did to us tonight what we usually do to other teams. They pressured and created turnovers that maybe aren’t typical for us. But any league win is a good win.”
Yes it is, Nate, and his 16-0 Redskins escaped by the skin of their teeth Thursday, thanks to the resiliency of guard Morgan Baumer (15 pts), forward Karlee Buschur (15 pts), and wing player Ava Homan (16 pts). Surviving their worst first first half since December to trail 25-20 at half time, and a scoreless half by post player Molly Wendel, St. Henry kept their winning streak alive by simply wearing down Marion Local with – you guessed it – pressure defense, turnovers, and made free throws in the fourth quarter.
And, yes…St. Henry hit clutch free throws by Baumer and Ava Homan at the end to ice it. A nice touch for the tradition-minded basketball person who believes in things like that. For the game St. Henry connected on 17 of 23 from the line (74%), while Marion Local hit 9 of 19 (47.3%). Pressure and turnovers by both teams notwithstanding, that was the difference in the ballgame.
It was a sloppy start by St. Henry…and one according to script for Marion Local and coach Beth Streib. Pressure, changing looks on defense, and matching up at all times against point guard Morgan Baumer, Streib pulled out all the stops. And it worked. St. Henry shot a miserable percentage in the opening minutes, took questionable shots, and couldn’t find a rhythm or momentum. On the strength of a couple of clean looks made by Kate Ashman, Marion led at the end of the quarter, 11-7.
And it went in…despite Morgan Baumer’s best efforts on defense, Marion’s Clare Bruns made this off-balance shot during the third quarter of Thursday’s 54-48 Redskins’ win.
The Flyers stretched that lead out to 12 points in the second quarter after St. Henry’s Molly Wendel picked up her second foul, leaving St. Henry nearly defenseless on the offensive and defensive boards. Marion Local got every rebound, and so it seemed…every 50-50 loose ball. The Redskins looked prime for the taking.
Still, a 9-4 run by the St. Henry over the final two minutes cut the lead to 25-20 by halftime, and six missed free throws by Marion in the half proved to be the kryptonite that would ultimately do them end by game’s end.
St. Henry got the first two points of the third quarter on a baseline layup, but Marion would not give in, holding on to that 3 to 5-point lead.
On an uncharacteristically cold night, Molly Wendel would not score her first points until 1:35 of the quarter to make it 31-30. And moments later, after a Marion bucket at the other end, Ava Homan drew a foul as the quarter ended to go to the line and hit two free throws to give St. Henry its first lead of the game…at 36-35.
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Post-game, Marion’s Beth Streib pretty much described the final eight minutes of the game this way: “They pressured us, we had too many turnovers, and they have a lot of weapons.”
The two teams traded buckets, as well as the lead back and forth until Ava Homan hit a huge three-pointer from the wing that seemingly gave St. Henry the momentum to build a five-point lead and sustain that lead to the end.
St. Henry’s Karlee Burschur rises for three of her 15 points in Thursday’s win over Marion Local.
But Marion came right back, benefiting from a Redskin turnover to go on a run and take a 46-45 lead.
Now enter Baumer, who promptly came down and canned a three-pointer from the opposite wing from which Homan struck, to put Marion up 48-46.
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Marion had committed no fouls in the quarter, and in order to prevent St. Henry from holding the ball for the final minute, they began to foul, stopping the clock…but also stopping their own momentum on offense. Clare Bruns would score their final bucket with under a minute on the clock. But now with five fouls, Marion fouled Ava Homan and Morgan Baumer, and the two of them went to the line and hit four straight shots to ice the game, 54-48.
St. Henry’s Ava Homan scores in close for two of her game-high 16 points.
Ava Homan’s three-pointer proved to be the life, and the final push, that St. Henry needed to score their final nine points.
“They didn’t expect me to take that shot (the three-pointer),” said Homan. “The three-pointer has not been my thing this year, but my making that was a huge thing for the team. It gave us some energy. Morgan and Karlee knocked down their own shots and it just provided energy and excitement for us.”
Baumer, Buschur, and Homan would account for 46 of St. Henry’s total of 54 points. Wendel would ultimately finish with 5 points, and Alexis Buschur had the final 3.
For Marion Local (11-6), Clare Bruns and Kate Ashman each had 14, Kiley Schoenlein had 9, Mya Eckstein finished with 5, and Faith Ronnebaum had 4.
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“Making those free throws was big,” Morgan Baumer beamed over her team’s ability to cash in at the line with the game on the line. “They were important points. And Ava did all the little things right tonight, and it just translated. Her defense was insane, she was amazing on offense…she was always in the right spot. I thought her three-pointer was shocking, but she’s a pretty good shooter, too.”
It was a close call, their closest since a 25-22 win over Minster back on December 18th.
“But the energy in the gym was amazing,” said Nate Uhlenhake. “We had a whole bunch of little girls here to watch the game tonight. We had a whole bunch of people here. We had our bake sale to raise money for the community, so it was a whole different atmosphere. It took us a little while to settle in. It was a combination of Marion being really good, and us taking some time to settle in and play basketball.”
Or maybe just credit the ‘sugar high’ from all those pies, cupcakes and cookies.
Seriously. Who loses on bake sale night?
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