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St. Henry players celebrate at the end of Thursday's 42-28 win over Parkway that secured them a share of the Midwest Athletic Conference championship.
ROCKFORD - A year ago, the Parkway girls basketball team won its first Midwest Athletic Conference championship on St. Henry's home floor.
Thursday night, the Redskins returned the favor.
St. Henry took control in the third quarter and pulled away for a 42-28 win over the Panthers, finishing 7-2 in the MAC and splitting the title with Marion Local, Minster and Versailles.
"It was one of our goals at the beginning of the season, and we talked about not letting our opportunities slip away," St. Henry coach Nate Uhlenhake said. "Our girls capitalized, and I'm super proud of the team."
It's the first time the MAC girls basketball championship has been shared by more than two teams, and with St. Henry winning a share, every current member of the MAC has won at least one title.
"You've got to congratulate St. Henry on getting it done," Parkway coach Dan Williamson said. "A lot of people saw this brewing last year, and they're going to be good for a while. So congrats to their players and coaches, first of all. They came out and took it there in the second half."
The Redskins lost back-to-back MAC games at the start of January, losing by six against the Flyers and by five to the Wildcats.
But they recovered with wins over New Knoxville, New Bremen, Fort Recovery and St. John's, then took down the defending champs on Thursday to finish the job.
"Kind of looked like we weren't going to have a shot," Uhlenhake said. "Then there was one Thursday night where a couple teams won, a couple teams lost, and it gave us an opportunity to be in the hunt yet."
Parkway (16-6, 5-4 MAC) led by two at the end of a defensive first half, which ended when Brittyn Bruns hit a step-back 3-pointer with 0.2 seconds left. But in the third, St. Henry wasted no time asserting itself.
Molly Wendel tied the game 47 seconds into the third, and the Redskins played a deliberate offense, with just two shots over the next 90 seconds. After Brittyn Bruns hit two free throws to make it 16-14, Morgan Baumer hit a floater, then banked in a layup a minute later to put the Redskins up for good.
St. Henry's Morgan Baumer drives past Parkway's Brittyn Bruns at Panther Gymnasium on Thursday.
"It was an emotional night, and I think we were pressing a lot in the first half," Uhlenhake said. "They're a good, solid defensive team. They were trying to make us earn everything, and we didn't shoot very well from the outside. They made it tough on us, but we were able to come out in the third quarter, make a little run."
"I think they were probably a little nervous to start the game," coach Williamson said, "but then they settled down and did a lot of the things we saw on film, that we knew we were going to have to handle."
St. Henry came out in a full-court press, and it paid off. The Panthers coughed up the ball four times in the first three minutes and nine times in the third quarter.
"Some of our seniors made the call, we decided to go with our press instead of just three-quarters court," Uhlenhake said. "They stepped up, made the call. They said, 'Hey, let's do this,' and I thought the energy we got from that was exceptional."
Parkway's defense continued to limit the Redskins for the first five minutes of the third, but with 2:57 left, Chloe Speck knocked down a corner three to make it a five-point game.
Parkway's Bryn Schoenleben gets a pass off past St. Henry defender Rileigh Baumer.
Rileigh Baumer hit a free throw and Leah Lefeld got a layup in transition to make it 24-16. After Paige Williamson snapped the Panthers' four-minute drought, Alexis Buschur got a hoop-and-harm, and St. Henry took a 27-18 lead into the fourth.
"We were just trying to take what the defense gives us," Uhlenhake said. "They were trying to take away our drives, take away our inside game a little bit, and I thought that allowed for a lot of reversals and a lot of ball movement to try to attack when we thought they were a little bit vulnerable. We rushed a little in the first half. I thought we got better in the second half."
Buschur hit another big shot early in the fourth, sinking a three in transition to stretch the lead to 13. Megan Hughes hit a jump shot on the other end, but the Panthers took just two shots over the next 2 1/2 minutes as the Redskins stretched the lead to 15.
"They sub a lot of girls, which keeps them fresh, and we don't play as many, just seven or eight," coach Williamson said. "That wears on you over the course of four quarters, and it affects your jump shots, affects everything - your defense, rebounding. I think their depth was the biggest thing that got us, and they play really hard."
St. Henry's Ava Homan and Parkway's Adria Miller vie for the ball.
The Panthers also had to deal with foul trouble for their post players, Hughes and Audrey Nichols. Nichols picked up her third shortly after halftime, and Hughes got two quick fouls to get to four with 2 1/2 minutes left in the third.
"Megan's our best rebounder, and Audrey's one of our best defenders, our best post defender by far," coach Williamson said. "When you have those two girls on the bench for extended minutes, it puts a lot of pressure on a lot of girls to do different things."
Buschur scored 14 points and Baumer added 11. Bruns led Parkway with nine and Adria Miller had 11 rebounds.
Parkway opens the Division III tournament by hosting the winner of Wayne Trace and Fort Recovery in the sectional final on Feb. 24. St. Henry, which has played seven games in February, hosts the winner of Waynesfield-Goshen and Ada on Feb. 24 in the Division IV tournament.
"We've had a lot of games here down the stretch to finish out our schedule, and we've responded well to that," Uhlenhake said. "Hopefully we can just carry that on. Like I said, I'm super proud of what they've done. We're going to enjoy this one, and then get back to work."
