EAGLE, Idaho — Audrey Baxter has been playing basketball since she was 9 years old, and it's her favorite sport by far. For the Eagle High senior, the close bond with her team has helped her through the hardest time of her life.
She lost her mom, Karen Baxter, in March 2024 when she was only 16 years old.
WATCH: See how Eagle High School's women's basketball team is raising awareness
"So we actually had gotten back from spring break on Sunday night. She just felt like she was sick, and then Monday night she went into the ER and then immediately was in the ICU and was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia, and then that Saturday she passed," Baxter said.
The diagnosis was completely unexpected, with no family history of leukemia.
"There's like nobody in my family who's ever had leukemia or had anything near it, and so it was just so sudden, and they still like... I don't know all the medical details, but I don't think there was a clear answer of how she got it," Baxter said.
"What's crazy is that the statistics are for people who are like ages 50 and they're all male, and she was 46 and a woman, and it just completely defied odds," Baxter said.
Since then, her team, family, and friends have stood by her side. The day Karen passed, the team gathered for prayer in front of the Baxter home, and pink ribbons adorned trees throughout the neighborhood.
"We're all super close. I don't think I've ever been on a team that we're just all best friends like we always hang out outside of basketball," Baxter said. "In basketball, we have so much fun, but we also work really hard, and everyone individually is super driven."
"I felt like I had all this support behind me and even on like the hardest days, even if they didn't know, they somehow always said something that would kind of boost me or like cheer me up," Baxter said.
Audrey describes her relationship with her mom as unique and special.
"I feel like our relationship is super unique. She's like my best friend. Like we would hang out just like with all my friends," Baxter said. "She has this light about her that everyone wants to be around her, and so I felt that a lot, and I try to carry that with me too, you know, and so she's literally my favorite person on the planet."
"If she were still here today, I would tell her the same thing," Baxter added.
Karen was a constant presence at Audrey's games, even though basketball wasn't her sport.
"She definitely didn't understand basketball a ton. It wasn't her thing. Dance was," Baxter said. "I did dance for her, and I did basketball for my dad, but she knew I loved basketball, and so she'd support me no matter what."
"After each game, I just remember always giving her a hug even if I played one minute, I didn't play one minute, I'd turned it over eight times or made a three or whatever... she always was like, you did so good like you're amazing, so yeah, so blessed to have her as my supporter," Baxter said.
Now, Baxter honors her mom with Leukemia Awareness Night, where the Mustangs and crowd wear orange, the color for both leukemia and multiple sclerosis.
"Six o'clock on Saturday, and we all wear orange. I think we even have orange jerseys this year which is exciting," Baxter said. "Sometimes we'll get laces for our shoes, and we'll all get bows, and we'll just kind of deck out in orange, and we ask those who come to the game to wear orange as well."
"It's a very close thing for our team since we've had like a bunch of people go through it," Isabelle Elitharp said.
Elitharp is Audrey's best friend.
"Everyone comes together because they wanna be there for them and support," Elitharp said.
It's a tradition that started with another player, Molly Johnson, who held MS awareness nights in honor of her mom, who passed away when Molly was in middle school. Molly is currently serving a mission in Arizona for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Audrey was a freshman when Molly was a junior, and she witnessed how Molly started the awareness tradition.
"I believe her mom passed away when she was in middle school, and when she came into high school, she decided to take the opportunity to have an orange night for MS awareness," Baxter said.
Audrey now continues the legacy, uniting two stories under one color after discovering that MS and leukemia share the same awareness color and symbol.
"What was crazy is basketball season rolled around, and she was still living at home before she left on her mission," Baxter said. "And she was like MS and leukemia are the exact same. It's the color orange, and it's a butterfly."
"It felt amazing just honoring two amazing moms who made impacts not only us, but also the team," Baxter said.
For Audrey, it's about more than a game. It's about living her mom's legacy of service and connection.
"It's definitely something that's hard to think about," Baxter said. "I think she'd just be so proud that I kept going and I don't know, made connections along the way because her big thing was serving people and connecting to everyone."
"I think she'd just be proud of me for doing that, and you know, following her example," Baxter said.
The team invites the community to wear orange for MS and Leukemia Awareness Night at Eagle High School on Saturday, January 24th, at 6 p.m.
