Midland Regional: Katie Baker, Serena shake cold start, take down Marquette for regional title

RURAL VARNA – For security, Linus from “Peanuts” had his blanket; baby Maggie on “The Simpsons” had her pacifier; and the Serena Huskers have Katie Baker.

When the Huskers connected on only one of their first 15 shots from the field, the Huskers believed in Baker, and she hit the basket that gave them a 6-4 lead.

When the Crusaders erased a seven-point second-quarter deficit and surged into the lead early in the second half, Serena believed in Baker, and she hit two buckets for half of an 8-0 run that got it back.

When Serena needed to put some distance between it and MA in the fourth quarter, the Huskers believed in Baker, and she popped in seven of their nine points in the period.

Each time Serena needed something positive to happen, the Huskers turned to Baker, and she delivered, resulting in a 45-30 victory and the school’s first Class 1A regional title since 2018.

Baker finished with 22 points, or 48.8% of her team’s scoring, while freshman Jenna Setchell added 14 to lead the No. 1-seeded Huskers (30-2) into Tuesday’s 6 p.m. semifinal game at the Hinckley-Big Rock Sectional against the host Royals. H-BR defeated Walther Christian, 42-19, for the title in Melrose Park on Friday night.

The Crusaders, who see their season end at 21-10, were led by nine points from Lilly Craig, eight from Josie Eager and seven from Izzy Garkey.

“It’s great to win a regional, a real goal of ours since the first day,” Serena coach Jim Jobst said. “We knew it was going to be a battle – both teams are here for a reason – and it’s hard to beat a team three times, but while we didn’t play great and were still up one at halftime, we knew we had to just relax and trust what we do, and we did a much better job of that in the second half.

“Katie, I just don’t know what to say about her. She controls the tempo of the game, she takes and hits the big shots, and she’s a great leader that settles everybody down when things are going bad.

“She sure played great tonight.”

The Huskers misfired on their first seven tries from the field on their way to that early drought but made up for it at the defensive end by forcing nine MA turnovers until a Baker 15-footer with 8.2 seconds left gave them the 6-4 edge.

A 3-pointer by Setchell with 4:04 left in the second quarter opened a seven-point Huskers lead, but Marquette popped in 12 of the next 14 points – four each from Eager and freshman Makayla Backos – to seize a 22-19 advantage early in the third quarter.

From there on out, Serena changed up its offensive sets to take advantage of the Cru’s triangle-and-2 defense designed to take Baker and Paisley Twait out of the attack. Several times in the second half, Baker and Twait took those guarding them out to the corners and let the rest of the team play a three-man game in the lane.

Still, Baker would flash into that game and ended up with half of the 8-0 burst that restored the lead. That was part of a larger 21-3 streak that decided the game, stretching that margin to 40-25 early in the fourth.

Keeping the ball in Baker’s hands to work the clock, Serena defensively held the Crusaders to five points and 1-of-9 shooting in the fourth quarter.

“I was happy with how we came out, but I counted five bunnies that we missed early, and when that happens, coaches always know those are going to come back and bite you,” Marquette coach Eric Price said. “In the second half, we got sped up a little bit, had some unforced turnovers and couldn’t really get into what we wanted to offensively.

“That’s a good team, and Baker is a great player. It’s always nice in close games to have someone like that, that you can give the ball to and have her make something good happen for you.”