Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

SOLON – Like any freshman playing varsity basketball for the first time Callie Levin was a little nervous for her prep debut.

The nerves for Levin lasted for exactly eight seconds.

Levin scored the first points of her career on a deep 3-pointer from the top of the key just eight seconds into her first career game giving Solon an early led it would never give up in a 68-41 win over Class 3A fourth-ranked Center Point-Urbana on Tuesday.

“At first I was a little timid and nervous but when I hit that first shot I was ready to go,” Levin said. “That really gave me a lot of confidence.”

The early triple was the perfect start for Levin in her much-anticipated debut.

A 5-foot-9 point guard Levin had watched the Solon program closely the past two seasons.

Her older sister MaKinley was a freshman two years ago when the Spartans won three games and helped Solon improve to nine victories last season.

The younger Levin had been waiting not so patiently for an opportunity to get on the court with her sister.

“I’ve been dreaming of playing high school basketball since I was a little kid,” Levin said. “I always dreamed of starting varsity as a freshman so when those dreams came true I was amazed and it’s so awesome that I got to step on the court with my sister and play with her.”

Levin was impressive in her debut.

The freshman point guard finished with a game-high 20 points, 16 of which came in the first half as Solon built a 37-16 halftime lead.

“It was awesome. I don’t know how to explain it, I just had so much adrenaline running through my body,” Levin said. “We were so ready to play, we’ve been working so hard for that first game. When I came down and I made the first basket of the game I was like ‘lets go it’s game time’.”

After hitting the 3-pointer on the first possession of the game Levin missed her final four shots of the first quarter.

She quickly went to work in the second quarter, scoring 13 of Solon’s 19 points in the quarter, on a variety of drives to the basket.

“This summer I worked on different moves because I know I need to have a lot of tools in my game,” Levin said. “Getting to the basket has definitely been one of those things I have worked on because if my shot isn’t on I need to be able to get to the basket to help my team out.”

Levin finished 8-of-15 from the floor and hit both of her free throw attempts.

Levin also had five rebounds, a team-high six assists and two steals in her first career game.

“She is a different player and there were a few times I thought she over passed but that’s her nature,” Solon coach Jamie Smith said. “She is special and she’s special from the standpoint that she’s a team player.”

Levin led three players in double figures as Solon defeated Center Point-Urbana for the first time since 2011.

Kaia Holtkamp had 13 points and Makinley Levin had 12 as Solon shot 46 percent from the field.

“Callie is a DI kid so it does help us because it helps other kids get an opportunity to score,” Smith said. “People feed off of those types of opportunities to score that she is able to create.”

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