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St. Henry players celebrate after the final horn during Thursday's MAC championship game against Versailles. The Redskins won their third straight conference title with a come-from-behind 40-37 win over the Tigers.
ST. HENRY - It was exactly how a conference championship game should enfold - two teams battling back and forth right to the final horn.
Addy Homan's hoop-and-harm 3-point play with 32.8 seconds remaining in regulation gave St. Henry the lead, then she hit two free throws with 16.2 seconds remaining to help the Redskins rally from eight points down in the final five minutes to defeat Versailles 40-37 to claim the Midwest Athletic Conference championship on their home floor on Thursday night.
St. Henry (21-1, 8-1 MAC) captures its third straight conference title and second straight outright title. Versailles, needing the win to pick up their second title in three seasons and first outright title since 2018, goes to 14-7 and 7-2.
"These girls battle all the time," said St. Henry coach Nate Uhlenhake. "All the senior parents came up to practice last night and talked about starting to play basketball in third grade and working on help-side defense. These girls were playing (at a young age) with their parents."
Both teams brought their physical defense, resulting in fouls and turnovers. Over two minutes elapsed before Molly Wendel hit two free throws for the first points of the game. Karlee Buschur added two more 90 seconds later to make it 4-0 St. Henry. Versailles did not get on the board until nearly six minutes passed when Katey Litten hit a free throw. The first field goal of the game came with 94 seconds remaining in the quarter on a Lena Heitkamp layup, but Wendel got St. Henry's first bucket seconds later to help the Redskins take a 6-5 lead after eight minutes.
After each team was 1-of-10 from the floor in the opening quarter, the offense began to pick up in round two. A hoop-and-harm 3-point play by Litten gave the Tigers their first lead at 8-6. The lead was traded back and forth eight times in the second quarter with two ties. The Tigers led 20-18 with under 30 seconds to play on Allie Weitholter's bucket, but Karlee Buschur knocked down a trey with under 10 seconds to go to give St. Henry a 21-20 halftime lead.
The back-and-forth continued into the third quarter. St. Henry took a 27-25 lead on an Ava Homan bucket with 3:11 to play. The Tigers went scoreless on their next two possessions, but then with just over 90 seconds to play in the quarter, Litten got hot.
A bucket with 94 seconds to play tied the game, then after a St. Henry scoreless possession, Litten was fouled and hit two free throws to put the Tigers in front 29-27. With 38 seconds remaining, Litten knocked down a trey to give the Tigers a 32-27 lead going into the final eight minutes.
Litten scored the first bucket of the final period to make it a seven-point Versailles lead before Wendel hit a free throw to stop the skid. Litten then added another bucket with 5:10 remaining to make the score 36-28. After a scoreless possession, Uhlenhake called a time out with 4:48 to go.
St. Henry's Alexis Buschur (2) tries to get the ball away from Versailles' Katey Litten
The Tigers tried the patience game, trying to force St. Henry to foul, but lost possession on a jump ball. Morgan Baumer scored with 3:18. Versailles went scoreless on its next two possessions, allowing Baumer to added another bucket to cut it to 36-32, then the Redskins got a turnover, with Alexis Buschur scoring to cut it to 36-34 with 2:07 to play. The teams traded scoreless possessions over the next minute before Alexis Buschur was fouled with 50.6 to go, hitting one free throw to make it a one-point game. Elli Stammen got the point back for the Tigers with a free throw with 46 seconds remaining. After a Redskin timeout with 40.6 seconds to play, Addy Homan drove the lane and scored the bucket as she was fouled to tie the game at 37-all. The made free throw gave St. Henry the lead.
"A little ironic. It's senior night and have a veteran team, and a sophomore steps up," said Uhlenhake. "All year long it's been different people stepping up. Tonight was another example of that."
St. Henry's Addy Homan goes up for a layup as Versailles' Elli Stammen (left) tries to take a charge.
The Tigers called a timeout, but on the ensuing possession, Versailles was called for an illegal screen. Forced to foul, Addy Homan was sent to the line with 16.2 seconds to go, making both free throws to put Versailles in need of a 3-pointer to keep the game going. The Tigers had a good chance at a trey, missed and got the rebound, but were unable to get the second chance off before the horn, ending the game.
"I'm super-proud of the girls," said Uhlenhake. "This team kept battling, kept fighting and battled adversity (foul trouble). When you show up when adversity strikes, it's special to see. Huge credit to Versailles. They're a really good team."
"I knew it was going to be a four-quarter battle," said Versailles coach Tracy White. "Unfortunately, it came down to a couple possessions where we weren't able to execute and get the job done."
Morgan Baumer finished with 13 points. Wendel scored seven points before fouling out with 2:25 remaining.
Litten, a leading contender for MAC Player of the Year, scored 22 points.
St. Henry will have nearly two weeks before returning to action after earning the No.1 seed and a bye directly into the Division VI Northwest 6 District. St. Henry plays the winner of next Thursday's Coldwater-Marion Local game on Feb. 25 at Wapakoneta High School. Versailles has over a week off before opening its Division V tournament play on Feb. 21 at Trotwood-Madison against Springfield Northeastern.
