Morgan Baumer (left) and Molly Wendel were forced to miss the OHSAA Division VI title game due to injury. (Press Pros Feature Photos)
They captured the school’s first women’s basketball title on the heels of a pair of devastating injuries to key starters, relying on their faith in each other and a Providential blessing. The St. Henry basketball girls helped us all to become better believers!
It should come as no surprise this week that the St. Henry girls basketball team garners the spotlight as our ‘Who’s Hot’ honoree after securing the school’s first-ever title in women’s basketball, joining an illustrious school legacy for titles won in football, men’s basketball, baseball, and volleyball.
And for the sake of the phrase…degree of difficulty…there can be no argument whether anyone in recent years, and probably the near-future, will overcome more to do it.
The Redskins lost starting guard and leading scorer Morgan Baumer during the regional round in Springfield with a serious knee injury. Then, about six minutes into last week’s Division VI state semi-final round at the Nutter Center in Fairborn, they lost starting center Molly Wendel to a serious head injury when she fell under the rim fighting for a rebound…and a Harvest Prep player fell on top of her with God knows how many pounds of added force.
Both Baumer and Wendel would sit out during Friday’s Division VI final with Canton Central Catholic, a game the Redskins won dominantly, by 19 points…53-34!
It’s easy to give credit to God and faith at times like that, and many do because it’s the popular thing to say, natural or not, in modern culture during times of crisis. And many do, because it gets headlines from the outside, and for a moment…a second look from those looking for something to respect about the more rich and famous in contemporary sports. It’s easy to be cynical because so many do it, while relying on their own virtues when times are good!
But in the case of the St. Henry girls, and the senior leaders on that team, it would be impossible not to believe that a group of twelve kids from a small town in Mercer County, Ohio would call on, or believe in, any other source of comfort and hope for a fallen friend at a time when that friend’s life was at stake.
“This is my foundation. This is what I’ve been taught since I was a kid.” – Alexis Bushcur (above, right)
“This is my foundation,” said Alexis Buschur. “It’s what I’ve been taught since I was a kid.”
Exactly, nearly quoting the familiar verse from the Old Testament prophet that reads, “Teach a child in the way he should go; and when he is old he will not depart from it.” That can be found in the book of Proverbs, 22:6, King James version. Some might want to read it, while the example is fresh in their mind.
And the fact that the St. Henry girls instinctively called upon their teaching and upbringing in a time of crisis…in deference to stopping the game to bring in counselors from the crowd, or online…makes me believe all the more in Alexis Buschur’s testimony (and others), that they were confident in the Providence of good things embracing those who believe God and pray.
And then, of course, the resumption of the game, and the conviction to play, and act, in the manner of their training, athletically – their belief in the example of coach Nate Uhlenhake, who stuck with it and believed even during a time in the game’s second half when they trailed by as much as ten points.
I witnessed all of this from a distance of ten feet. And at the resumption of the game I focused my attention not just on the game, itself, but on the bearing and patience of the St. Henry girls who just kept playing…believing that they had something going for them that Harvest Prep did not at that very instant – a more important reason to play. Molly!
Because had St. Henry not have won the actual game, but knowing that Molly Wendel was going to overcome her horrific injury, it’s for sure that her teammates, coaches, and the community would have gloried in her recovery over another ornament in the trophy case.
So in that respect the Redskins were doubly blessed, receiving the best of both and an experience that will persevere far, far longer than reunions and memories of another championship, even the first for girls basketball.
For the scriptures also say that we see through a glass dimly in this life, and that we cannot know the ultimate plan and order of things until that day when all will be revealed. And someone, I’m sure, came away from last weekend’s Division VI girls basketball championship believing that…that probably didn’t believe it before.
Our congratulations for every blessing, including that big gold trophy, as we proudly recognize the St. Henry girls basketball team – this week’s ‘Who’s Hot’ honorees on Press Pros.
Peace of mind is as easy as the relationship you have with your local bank, and the St. Henry bank is small enough to know you, and big enough to serve you. The St. Henry Bank joins Press Pros Magazine in recognizing this week’s “Who’s Hot” honoree…the St. Henry girls basketball team, from St. Henry High School.