Pat Harty

Your Prep Sports

SOLON – Solon girls basketball coach Lisa Bishop had reason to feel good at halftime about her team’s chance of defeating Maquoketa on Tuesday.

That feeling started to fade in the third quarter and the situation only got worse in the fourth quarter as Maquoketa erased a 10-point halftime deficit to defeat Solon 52-49 at the Solon gymnasium.

The Spartans struggled on defense to stop penetration, especially in the second half, and they committed 22 turnovers while falling to 5-8 on the season.

“Credit to Maquoketa for attacking the lane,” Bishop said. “We did not play very good defense. We sent them to the line too many times and they capitalized on it. We did not protect the paint very well. So that was our defensive issue.

“Offensively, valuing the ball, too many turnovers when they mattered. Our girls are pretty inexperienced, but at this point in the season, I feel like we’ve been working on it every day in practice, passing under duress. But we’ve still got find a way to make better passes.”

Solon had a chance to send the game into overtime, but Brianna Smith’s 3-point attempt bounced off the rim in the closing seconds.

After scoring just 19 points in the first half, Maquoketa matched that total in the third quarter alone, and only trailed 40-38 heading to the fourth quarter.

Hannah Ambrosy made a 3-point basket to give Maquoketa its first lead since early in the first quarter at 43-42 with 6 minutes, 17 seconds remaining.

But Solon answered back just seconds later with a 3-pointer by junior point guard Taylor Ryan that put the Spartans back on top at 45-43.

Maquoketa then closed the game with a 9-4 scoring run and improved to 7-5 on the season.

Ryan scored a game-high 26 points and made all five of her team's 3-point baskets. But she only scored eight points in the second half while facing a box-and-one defense.

“She was feeling hot today,” Bishop said of the 5-foot-3 Ryan. “She did a great job of recognizing as a point guard when to push the ball and when to back it out. So I was proud of her for her game.”

The Spartans committed 21 fouls, but Maquoketa struggled to capitalize by missing nine free throws.

Solon also missed 14 of 18 field-goal attempts in the third quarter and that allowed Maquoketa to chip away at the lead.

Maquoketa 12  7 19 14 – 52

Solon        18 11 11  9 – 49

Maquoketa (52) – Sydney Taylor 0-6 0-0 0, Brooklyn Waller 0-4 1-2 1, Hannah Ambrosy 4-9 3-6 14, Kailey Harmon 4-10 0-0 8, Nell Sybesma 5-10 1-3 11, Autumn Dykstra 3-13 3-3 9, Cari Pickup 1-1 2-2 5, Abbi Strathman 2-2 0-1 4, Leah Puetz 0-1 0-2 0. Totals 19-55 10-19 52. 

Solon (49) – Taylor Ryan 9-18 3-3 26, Gabby Marty 2-7 1-2 5, Abby Smith 2-5 0-0 4, Erin Kerkhoff 4-6 0-0 8, Saige Haurer 0-2 0-0 0, Jenna LaDage 0-10 0-0 0, Brianna Smith 2-9 2-4 6. Totals 19-57 6-9 59.

3-point Field Goals – Maquoketa 4 (Ambrosy 3, Pickup); Solon 5 (Ryan 5). Fouls – Maquoketa 11, Solon 21.