WENTZVILLE, Mo. — At Timberland High School in Wentzville, scoring is second nature for Leah Wilmsmeyer.
“She can put the ball in the bucket … When she’s on there’s nobody I’ve seen better," head girls basketball coach Brad Schellert said.
"If you want to score, you give Leah the ball," senior Madison Baird said.
“Any time we need something, she’s the go to person," senior Claire Markovich said.
“Her overall accomplishments with basketball in high school has been unreal," Leah's father Dave Wilmsmeyer said.
Unreal as in scoring more than 1,500 points to become Timberland's all-time leading scorer in girls basketball history. But the senior is humble about her skills, even when asked to brag about her ability on the court.
"Um, I don’t know … it depends on the day," Leah laughed.
The thing is, it's a miracle this senior even got to showcase her skills at all this year.
“We got a phone call on my mom’s birthday, it was the night before school started. They called my mom and told her, and got me and my dad together up in my room and told us, and cried it out," Leah said.
"It just was shocking. It just really set us back. I don’t really know. It was just shock," Leah's mother, Mandy Wilmsmeyer, said.
“Throughout the night there were a lot of tears, and we never imagined we’d hear the words, ‘Your daughter has cancer'," Dave said.
After first discovering a lump during her junior basketball season, 18-year-old Leah Wilmsmeyer was diagnosed with breast cancer.
“The doctor was even exasperated herself. She said, ‘I just can’t wrap my own mind around it. We don’t see this.' The process started back when Leah was still 17," Dave said.
“My doctor basically told us she’d never seen this before at your age … I just remember thinking, 'This doesn’t happen. Why is this happening to me?'" Leah said.
Leah was able to avoid chemotherapy, and after two surgeries, she looked to be in the clear. And the tenacious teen had one thing on her mind.
“Her first thought was I still want to play basketball," Schellert said.
Now cancer-free, Leah has worked her way back into form on the court. She's averaging more than 17 points a game for a Timberland team in the midst of one of the best seasons in program history.
And while the mental toll of being a teenager who beat breast cancer can be tough, Leah is proving just how tough she is.
"If people don’t know Leah, they’re like, 'There’s no way that girl beat cancer because she’s amazing on the court,'" Baird said.
“She rebounded. That’s to me the miracle and tremendous accomplishment. Just mentally rebounding," Schellert said.
“She’s very strong. Obviously, we’re biased, but she’s a remarkable young lady," Dave said.
And with a healthy outlook going forward, the humble hoops star said she wouldn't be in this position without her team, and support system around her. Support that was perhaps most personified with a special "pink-out" night at Timberland, with the Wolves all donning pink jerseys and topping their rivals from Holt.
“If I didn’t have this team it would a lot different. Just every single person on the team," Leah said.
“Without the strength of our faith and our family together I don’t know how we would’ve got through this," Dave said.
And her experience has given Leah an even greater appreciation for the ability to dominate on the basketball court.
“It’s how you look at it. Because it could have been very easy for this to ruin me almost. But I think my faith and my family and everything has helped me through it," Leah said.
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