The school is located in western New York with no easy access to the campus. And she signed during at the height of the pandemic, which meant she didn’t actually meet her coaches until she enrolled.
“I showed up in the summer. I wasn’t in love with it, but I thought, ‘Maybe it’s because I’m just a freshman, and that kind of stuff happens,’” the Sylvania Northview High School product said.
“It took till early November, and I went into the coach’s office and said, ‘I’m going to transfer.’”
Her list of potential landing spots was pretty short. She had met Wright State coach Kari Hoffman during the recruiting process, and the two already had a connection.
Hoffman was in the midst of overhauling the roster — she ultimately brought in 13 new players after her first year — and Baumhower was told she had a spot if she wanted it.
“Going into the transfer portal mid-year is not easy. There’s not a lot of teams that have open scholarships, and no one really knows what their roster will look like (after the season),” the 5-foot-9 junior said.
“But I immediately felt welcomed and loved, and that they were going to build me up and bring back the person I was before I went to St. Bonaventure.”
Baumhower earned a starting spot last season, and she was the leading returning scorer going into this year after averaging 9.4 points.
She’s been a stalwart again: second on the team in scoring at 12.6 per game and first in steals (1.3), second in assists (2.6) and fourth in rebounding (4.8).
She’s also made 60 of 67 free throws after leading the league at 90.4% last year.
“She gives us consistency and a high IQ,” Hoffman said. “She understands the game and plays like a coach out there.
“She’s just improved tremendously. I think she was frustrated earlier in the year with her shooting percentage, and now she’s shooting awesome.”
Baumhower has averaged 14.7 points in the last seven games, helping the surprising Raiders earn respect throughout the league.
They’re 11-7 overall and third in the HL at 5-2 going into a home game with second-place Cleveland State at 7 p.m. Wednesday. The Vikings are 15-3 and 6-1 despite losing league player of the year Destiny Leo to a season-ending knee injury.
Springfield High School grad Mickayla Perdue has stepped up in Leo’s absence. The senior guard is averaging 15.2 points and was named HL player of the week Monday.
After enduring 4-19 and 8-24 records her first two years, Baumhower said of her time as a Raider: “It’s been everything I wanted.”
She’s part of a tight-knit team. The players can often be seen at men’s games sitting in a pack, and they spend much of their free time at The Greene.
“We like to go to dinner together. And we all have a big shopping addiction,” Baumhower said with a laugh, adding that the apparel store lululemon is their favorite stop.
Rebuilding the program with the help of about a dozen transfers the last three years couldn’t have been easy, but Hoffman has had way more hits than misses.
“She knows it’s people first then the player. I think she’s always followed that,” Baumhower said.
“Bringing in the right person who’s going value the right things academically, socially and on the floor — I think that’s how you build trust. And that trust is now carrying over into how we play.”
WEDNESDAY’S GAME
Cleveland State at Wright State, 7 p.m., ESPN+
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