Doubly dangerous: Connellsville 6-4 senior Aumer’s shooting touch helps land D-I scholarship
Lori C. Padilla
Connellsville’s Sara Aumer shoots over the outstretched hand of Uniontown’s Mya Murray (3) during a non-section game at Connellsville on Jan. 18. Aumer will be playing NCAA Division I basketball next season at North Carolina A&T.
Submitted photo
Connellsville senior Sara Aumer (seated, center) will continue her basketball and academic careers at North Carolina A&T State University. Attending the signing ceremony were stepfather Fred Reynolds and mother Beth Aumer (seated), and (standing, from left) Victoria Archibeque, Connellsville Athletic Director Rich Evans and Connellsville girls basketball coach Shawna Little.
You can’t teach height. That’s according to an old basketball saying and it certainly applies to Connellsville 6-foot-4 center Sara Aumer.
What you can teach is how to be a better all-around basketball player, and Aumer has certainly excelled in that area over the final two years of her high school career.
With a smooth left-handed jump shot that is rare in a post player, Aumer became a highly-recruited prospect and finally settled on North Carolina A&T. She signed a letter of intent to play for the NCAA Division I Aggies of the Mid-East Atlantic Conference (MEAC).
“There were multiple schools that I had to choose from,” Aumer said. “I picked North Carolina A&T because that’s the one that felt like more home to me and I knew I had a better chance of achieving more things at that school.”
Aumer, a two-time member of the Herald-Standard All-Area Girls Basketball Team, also was recruited by Division I schools LaSalle, Quinnipiac and Rider, as well as the Merchant Marine Academy.
The Aggies won out.
“I had an unofficial and an official visit at North Carolina A&T,” Aumer said. “It was very nice.”
Aggies head coach Tarrell Robinson was pleased to land Aumer.
“Sara adds depth to our front court,” Robinson said on the school’s website after Aumer verbally committed. “As a post, she can shoot the mid-range jump shot, while also stepping out to shoot the three. She will be a great face-up forward in our system and force opponents to step out and guard her away from the basket.”
Shooting the outside shot is something Aumer is comfortable with and loves to do after refining her skill in that area.
“They said that I’m going to play with my back to the basket, but I’m also going to be able to shoot sometimes, which I’m happy to do,” Aumer said.
Aumer scored a combined 429 points the past two seasons despite missing several games and being hampered by an ankle injury her senior year. She averaged over 10 rebounds per game in the 2019-20 campaign.
“It was really neat as the head coach to have her for her junior and senior years, and see her mature to the player she has become and secure that Division I offer,” said Connellsville girls basketball head coach Shawna Little, who was a Lady Falcons’ assistant coach when Aumer was a sophomore.
“Her game really improved from the outside. Sara is a threat from the inside, obviously, being 6-4, but her being able to step out and shoot just adds another huge dimension to her game. Her being a lefty, too, she has one of the nicest shots I’ve seen.
“It’s crazy to think that’s a 6-4 girl that can shoot like that. That’s going to serve her really well in college where she’s going to be up against girls as big as her.”
Aumer has a deft touch at the foul line also.
“She was around 80 (percent) from the free throw line which is very good, especially for a high school girl that tall,” Little said. “Usually you see posts really struggle to shoot foul shots and they get to the line a lot. That’s something her and I talked about before the season, I said you need to finish around the bucket, get more and-ones and make those foul shots. I think she did really well with that this year.”
Aumer began playing basketball when she was six years old, and although she was taller than all the other girls, she wasn’t a natural.
“I was not good,” she said with a chuckle. “I was not a basketball player.”
She worked hard to get better and evolved.
“I got into the gym on my off days and trained and became the player I am today,” said Aumer, who also got into AAU basketball and plays for the Legendz, coached by Curtis Williams.
“She put a lot of time in at AAU over the summer last year and really came on this year,” said Little, who pointed out Aumer was a force defensively, too.
“She was a heck of a shot blocker. She averaged about three or four per game. Her presence is why we were able to play such a successful 2-3 zone. No one wanted to drive with her in the middle. That’s what kept us in a lot of games against teams that could dribble penetrate.”
Aumer looks back on her time with the Lady Falcons fondly.
“It was really good. I loved playing for Connellsville,” said Aumer, the daughter of Richard and Beth Aumer and stepfather Fred Reynolds. “It’s such a great team to play on, and my coach Shawna Little, she definitely helped me a lot, not just in basketball but off the court, too. It was a great experience to play there.”
Like everyone else, Aumer’s life has been hampered by the COVID-19 pandemic as she tries to stay in shape for what she hopes will be her freshman season in college.
“I’ve been working out with my trainer, Larry Evans,” she said. “We’ve been going to the track and running, and I’ve been going on runs with my mom. It’s just hard to get into a gym right now.”
Though she’s sad to to see her go, Little sees a much more mature player and a better leader now than she did a few years ago.
“I think Sara got more vocal this year,” Little said. “I had some side conversations and told her, ‘Sara, you’re the Division I player on this team and the girls will look to you.’ I think the words I used were ‘You set the tone.’ That’s pressure on her but she rose to the occasion this year and I do feel like she grew into her leadership role and became more comfortable with that.”
It helped when Aumer finally made her college choice early in the season.
“She was used to getting a lot of attention from college coaches and I think she settled down once she realized, ‘Alright, I’m going to North Carolina A&T, I have a plan,'” Little said.
“Then she was able to relax a little bit and really come into her own this year.”