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Parkway seniors Allison Hughes (10), Gabrielle Stober and Emiree Knittle (25) lift Parkway's Midwest Athletic Conference girls basketball trophy at Redskin Gymnasium on Thursday.
ST. HENRY - After a narrow loss to Marion Local two weeks ago, Parkway girls basketball coach Dan Williamson had given up on winning the Midwest Athletic Conference.
"I thought we were playing for second place when we lost," he said.
But thanks to Coldwater's upset of the Flyers last week, the Panthers had a chance Thursday to claim a share of the first conference title in program history, and this time they made good.
Parkway overcame a one-point deficit early in the fourth and gritted out a 47-40 victory over a tough St. Henry team to start a historic celebration at Redskin Gymnasium.
"I'm so happy to be here," Paige Williamson said. "It's been my dream to win the MAC, and now that we've finally done it, it's amazing. To be out on this floor in front of this great crowd, it makes me so happy."
"Everybody who stepped on the floor did something to contribute, whether it was defensively or rebounding or whatever. " coach Williamson said. "It's awesome for this team, for these girls, for the community, for the school. It's an amazing feeling."
Parkway (20-2, 8-1 MAC) and St. Henry were the only two teams without a MAC title heading into Thursday night, and two years ago, they combined for one MAC win as perennial cellar-dwellers. But Thursday night, the Panthers and Redskins clashed in a high-level MAC battle.
St. Henry's Jalynn Everman dribbles inside as Parkway's Gabrielle Stober defends at Redskin Gymnasium on Thursday.
St. Henry (14-8, 4-5 MAC) led as late as five minutes left, with Lauren Thieman tying the game at 35 on a jump shot down the baseline and Jalynn Everman adding a free throw to put the Redskins up with 5:10 to play.
"St. Henry, goodness gracious," coach Williamson said. "They're going to be a team to contend with the next three years."
Gabrielle Stober, who led Parkway and the MAC with 19 points per game coming in, had been limited to seven to that point, but Williamson made up the difference and then some, and it was Williamson who came through again to put the Panthers in control. After a jump ball, Brittyn Bruns found Williamson open in the right corner, and she cranked up a three to make it 38-36.
Parkway's Paige Williamson launches a three in the fourth quarter against St. Henry at Redskin Gymnasium on Thursday. Williamson shot 7-of-15 behind the arc.
Stober grabbed a blocked shot on the other end, and Bruns set a screen on the right wing, kicking the ball back to Williamson for another three that forced St. Henry coach Nate Uhlenhake to call timeout as the Parkway fans roared.
"I favor that side a lot," Williamson said.
"If Paige is hot, she's the best shooter in the league," Stober said. "I fully believe that."
The Redskins were far from done, and freshman Morgan Baumer got a layup on a pass from Leah Lefeld to cut the lead to three with 2:43 to go before a Panthers turnover for a double-dribble gave St. Henry a shot to tie. Morgan Baumer's shot missed, Adria Miller grabbed the layup, and Stober blew past a defender and drove the lane for a layup to make it 43-38.
Another Parkway turnover cost the Panthers the chance to drain the rest of the clock, and Molly Wendel hit another layup to make it a three-point game. But Bruns found Williamson to break the Redskins' press and they were forced to start fouling, and Stober hit both ends of two one-and-ones to close out the win.
Despite the slow start - two points in the first half and five in the first three quarters - Stober finished with 13 points.
"I think I got a little flustered, maybe forced a couple shots," Stober said. "Then we kind of slowed down, let the game come to us. Especially me, I had to find my groove a little bit. So especially coming out in the second half, I knew it'd be a little better."
Parkway had a six-point lead at the end of the first quarter, but St. Henry came back and took the lead on the second of two Everman threes, and Rileigh Baumer tied the game at 17 with a pair of free throws with two minutes left in the half.
The Panthers also had to play a big chunk of the first half without post player Allison Hughes, who picked up two fouls in the first 10 minutes. Hughes then picked up two more in the third quarter and was on the bench early in the fourth before finishing the game.
Williamson hit two threes in the third quarter, her third and fourth of the game, with the second putting Parkway up 28-26 with 3:41 left in the third. Leah Lefeld, St. Henry's leading scorer in the post, answered with a contested three from the left elbow, and Hughes put back her own miss to put the Panthers up by one heading into the fourth. Everman knocked down a trey at the buzzer, but the official waved it off to keep it 30-29 Parkway.
St. Henry's Alexis Buschur defends as Parkways' Paige Williamson starts to bring the ball up the court at Redskin Gymnasium on Thursday.
"Our confidence level has definitely gone up," Williamson said. "I know as a freshman, I was scared to shoot, and now I've slowly gotten better. Emiree (Knittle) has gotten better, her confidence level is a lot better. Gabby's just good from all around, Allison's rebounding is insane, and Audrey (Nichols) just nails the threes whenever we need her."
Against the Redskins, Williamson finished 7-of-15 behind the arc, tying her own school record for made threes, and scored 21 points. The seven threes gave her 47 for the season, which also tied a school record.
"I told her, 'You're kind of feeling it,' " coach Williamson said. " 'You're hitting some shots, so look to score.' They gave her a little bit of space, and she's got a good release. She had it tonight, thank goodness."
Parkway, which also tied a school record for wins in a season Thursday night, started the season 10-0 and started out 6-0 in the MAC before a battle with unbeaten Marion where the Panthers came up short. Stober had two looks at a tying three in the final seconds that didn't fall.
A week later, they survived an off night to beat New Bremen and listened in the locker room as the Cavaliers took down the Flyers in overtime.
"We were angry that next practice, all of us were," Williamson said. "But we didn't stop working, and we had a really good practice that next day. We were just like, next MAC game was ours. Marion's over - we should've won, we just didn't, and that's okay. We won tonight, and that's what matters."
"After the Marion Local loss, especially that night, we were kind of down in the dumps," Stober said. "Like, 'Oh man, all this hard work and we lost it there.' There's not many times in basketball, or any sport for that matter, that you get a second chance." She laughed. "I have some Marion Local friends, but when I found out that they lost to Coldwater, I was pretty excited. We were happy to get a second chance out of that for sure."
The MAC title comes three years after back-to-back winless seasons for the Panthers, including the freshman year for Hughes, Stober and Knittle. Their sophomore year, the Panthers went 1-8 in the league.
But coming off a junior-high MAC championship, they had their eye on the MAC crown from the start.
"This was their goal," coach Williamson said. "They won the MAC in junior high, and they came in and said, 'Coach, we want to win the MAC.' I guess, on my part, I just kind of lucked out on when I came in. I really can't take a whole lot of credit. How do you take credit for Gabrielle Stober? How do you take credit for Allison Hughes? Two of the best players in the history of our program, and I just kind of lucked into the job being open at that time."
"Even after our first scrimmage (this year), I was like, 'We can put it together,' " Stober said. "Obviously it's been up and down, but in the end, Allison, Paige, Emiree - I fully believe everybody on the court can be a threat."
Thursday night, they sealed the deal.
