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St. Henry seniors Eva Schmitz (10), Lauren Thieman (12) and Leah Lefeld (40) hold up the MAC championship trophy after defeating Parkway 42-31 to finish conference play 9-0.
ST. HENRY - After splitting the program's first Midwest Athletic Conference girls basketball title with three other teams, St. Henry coach Nate Uhlenhake expressed the hope of trimming that list to just one team this season.
The Redskins needed just one more win to make it a party of one at the champions' table at the MAC awards banquet.
As the final seconds ran off Thursday night at St. Henry, the table was cleared as the Redskins won their second straight title and first outright championship 42-31 over Parkway.
St. Henry (18-3) finishes MAC play at 9-0. Parkway wraps its regular season at 15-6 and 5-4 in the MAC.
"I'm just super proud of this team, these girls," said Uhlenhake, who earns the Coach of the Year honors in winning the title. "The way they work, I couldn't be more proud of them."
Parkway came ready to play spoiler, taking an early 5-0 lead on a bucket by Megan Hughes and a 3-pointer from Brittyn Bruns, but the Redskins showed no panic, tying the game at 6-all with 2:33 to play in the opening quarter on an Ava Homan free throw, then after an empty Panther possession, Karlee Buschur knocked down a trey to give the Redskins a lead at 9-6 that would never be lost.
Parkway's Colbie Smith (10) and Megan Nichols (14) box out St. Henry's Leah Lefeld.
"There was a lot at stake, and you could feel it in the environment here tonight," said Uhlenhake. "I think we played a little tight, which is natural, but it was good to rely on the basics to keep us in the game."
Bryn Schoenleben hit a free throw with 1:56 to play in the quarter to cut the Parkway deficit to 9-7, but the Redskins turned up their defense, forcing several turnovers over the next 5 1/2 minutes to build the lead to 16-7 before Bruns hit a 3-pointer with 3:55 remaining in the first half to stop the cold spell. Morgan Baumer briefly put St. Henry up by 11 with 1:23 to play, but Hughes' trey trimmed the margin to 23-15 at halftime.
"(St. Henry) forced 11 turnovers in the first half, most of them were live-ball turnovers," said Parkway coach Dan Williamson. "We had to really scramble to get back and try and stop them from scoring. Sometimes we did, sometimes we didn't. We did a better job in the second half."
St. Henry's Morgan Baumer (3) tries to put up a shot while Parkway's Megan Hughes defends.
Baumer knocked down a trey to start the scoring for St. Henry in the third quarter, but Parkway found a spark and began to claw its way back. Hughes' 3-pointer with 1:42 remaining in the third got the Panthers to within three at 28-25. The Redskins stepped up and made stops on several possessions and got the lead back to five on an Ava Homan basket just before the buzzer.
"They hit a few threes on us," Uhlenhake said of Parkway. "Bruns and Hughes were knocking down shots to keep them in it. Lot of credit to them. They're a good team."
The late score gave St. Henry its momentum for the fourth quarter as Baumer scored seven points in the final stanza and Ava Homan hit key free throws down the stretch to move the lead back to double digits as Uhlenhake re-entered his seniors - Leah Lefeld, Lauren Thieman and Eva Schmitz - to give them a big ovation when he cleared the bench in the final minute.
Parkway's Cami Langenkamp (12) pulls a rebound away from St. Henry's Lauren Thieman.
"Every MAC game is tough," said Uhlenhake. "We battled all year. There were a couple of games where we didn't finish like we should have. That was a good battle. Parkway is a good team."
"The girls did everything we asked them to do," said Williamson. "The shots just didn't fall when we needed them to."
Baumer finished her night with a game-high 18 points. Ava Homan added 10 points.
Hughes and Bruns each scored 13 points. Adria Miller added four points before fouling out early in the fourth quarter.
While Parkway is off until Feb. 15 for its Division VI district quarterfinals in Rockford against Spencerville, St. Henry finishes its regular season on Saturday with Arcanum coming to Redskin Gymnasium for a noon matinee.
