St. Henry celebrates its first regional title Saturday with a two-point victory over Fayetteville-Perry. (Press Pros Feature Photos by Logan Howard)
Redskins coach Nate Uhlenhake said his team’s near-perfect season has often been credited to different players stepping up at the right time. In Saturday’s regional final, that was more true than ever.
Springfield, OH – Morgan Baumer sat in the trainer’s room, her left knee being examined, her heart wanting to break, her St. Henry high school basketball career possibly over.
A few minutes earlier she made a hard-charging, fast-break layup, fell to the floor and grabbed her knee. Pain – physical and emotional – filled her.
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“I was thinking, no, no, no, this can’t be happening,” Baumer said. “But it all happens for a reason.”
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The reason for the afternoon game at Springfield High School was to see if St. Henry could win a Division VI regional title and advance to the state final four for the first time.
What those long-term reasons Baumer takes comfort in will have to wait to be revealed. But short term? The injury proved that the Redskins can rise up and find a way to win without their senior point guard.
Baumer left the game halfway through the second quarter with her team trailing by a point. Then without her, they closed the half on an 8-2 run to take a six-point lead. While her knee was being treated and wrapped, a teacher came in with news before the half ended.
“I hate to be the bearer of bad good news,” the teacher said. “But they just went on a 5-0 run without you.”
Baumer’s spirits were lifted.
“I was like, ‘Well, they got me, they’re playing for me,’” she said.
Molly Wendel shoots over Fayetteville-Perry star Cara Rummel. Wendel scored 12 points.
The second half will be remembered as the half for Morgan. The Redskins hung on to defeat Fayetteville-Perry 38-36 for their first regional crown despite scoring only 12 points in the second half, despite making only 2 of 10 free throws in the fourth quarter, despite committing too many turnovers.
“We talked a lot about our faith before the game and at halftime and how things don’t always go your way,” coach Nate Uhlenhake said. “Just keep believing in yourselves and your teammates and the man upstairs.”
During halftime fellow senior Karlee Buschur told Baumer not to worry: “We got to go out and do this for you.”
“That just shows the close knit of our team,” Baumer said. “We do everything for each other. We do anything for each other. That’s why we have had such a successful season.”
St. Henry’s Addy Homan powers through the Rockets’ defense in Saturday’s Division VI regional final.
When Baumer returned to the bench before the start of the second half, others asked if she could play. Her knee was heavily wrapped and she was limping. The answer was a clear no. But Baumer didn’t sit and sulk.
“Me and a couple other girls on the bench were doing a little prayer chant,” she said. “This whole game it was all in God’s hands.”
Next for the Redskins, but not necessarily Baumer who will have to see what the extent of her injury is, is a state semifinal against Canal Winchester Harvest Prep at 5 p.m. Thursday at the Nutter Center.
“It feels awesome,” Uhlenhake said. “So happy for the girls and all the work.
“I hate to see Mo go down with an injury. Sucks. But everybody stepped up. It wasn’t pretty, but they got the job done. Super proud. Super, super proud.”
The Redskins (25-1) went to work early against the Rockets (24-3), jumping to leads of 9-2 and 11-4. But the Rockets, a team full of guards, quick hands and defensive mindsets, rallied to a 19-15 lead.
Then Baumer got hurt and her teammates rallied to the halftime lead and continued to grind through the second half, never trailing but never secure.
“Personally, we’re really close, so I was a little scared at first, and I didn’t want her to be hurt,” Buschur said. “But we talked about it in the locker room, how we’re going to go finish the second half for her.”
Molly Wendel’s ability to score inside against the smaller Rockets helped carry the load in the first half. She scored 10 of her 12 points and made all six of her free throws. Buschur opened the game with her team’s only 3-pointer and scored nine of her 12 points in the half. After Wendel made two more free throws in the third quarter, the Redskins stood at 9 of 10 at the line.
St. Henry’s Olivia Gast is met with Fayetteville opposition as she tries to score in Saturday’s regional final win.
In the middle of everything, the Redskins realized that Fayetteville’s defense was better than it looked on game film.
“They were like a MAC team,” Buschur said. “It was scrappy, and they were all over the ball trying to get us to make a turnover, speeding us up.”
Without Baumer to steady the offense, the trials of the second half – especially 4-of-12 free-throw shooting – mounted until the Rockets’ best player, Cara Rummel (16 points), scored a second-chance basket in the lane with 1:17 left to cut St. Henry’s lead to 37-36.
After two more missed free throws, the Rockets called timeout with 45 seconds left. And when it comes to players stepping up at the crunchiest moments of crunch time, the Redskins kept it in the Baumer family.
The Rockets passed into the lane but freshman reserve Karlee Baumer, Morgan’s sister, deflected the pass away. The Redskins rushed to the loose ball and rushed it up the floor, avoiding a foul as long as possible.
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Eventually sophomore Addy Homan was caught and fouled. She had missed the two previous free throws, but this time she made one for a two-point lead.
The Rockets missed a shot and Karlee Baumer grabbed the rebound. She threw a long outlet pass to Wendel, but the Redskins didn’t quite run out the clock. They stepped out of bounds with 1.7 seconds left. But the Rockets’ long inbounds pass from the other side of halfcourt was batted away.
St. Henry senior Karlee Buschur scored 12 points and let Morgan Baumer know the team was playing for her.
“Actually made me tear up a little bit because she’s been struggling with confidence,” Morgan Baumer said of her sister’s two big plays. “To watch her go out there and just leave it all on the court, it was amazing. Proud big sister moment.”
When Morgan Baumer went down others had to handle the ball, which mostly fell to senior Alexis Buschur. Others had to score and play defense. Addy Homan, Olivia Gast and Karlee Baumer had to contribute more off the bench.
“All year long somebody different stepped up every time, and that’s just another example of that,” Uhlenhake said of Karlee Baumer’s contributions. “That’s just the team that we have here. And it’s just a testament to the girls, their families, and everybody in the St. Henry community.”
A community, by the way, that nearly filled one side of the gym. Fayetteville brought a good crowd, but the Redskins’ fans were not outdone.
“It means even more to have our community and students here, to be here with us, because their energy and the environment in this gym was absolutely insane,” Buschur said. “Being the team to finally get a regional title and go to state … it’s something special, and it’s something that we’ll remember for a really long time.”
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