Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports  

SOLON – After back-to-back double-digit losses to ranked opponents last week a new week brought fresh opportunity for the Solon girls basketball team.

Solon left the disappointment of last week behind in a 56-45 win over Williamsburg on Tuesday and in the process showed these are the same old Spartans of previous seasons.

“We knew what we had to do after last week, we just have to focus on what’s ahead,” Solon junior Elly Holubar said. “It’s a new game, there is a new strategy with how to approach it and we just tried to forget all that happened in the past and attack the next game with a new mindset.”

Class 3A No. 13 Solon led for all but two minutes of the first quarter on Tuesday while snapping its two-game losing skid in its first game against an unranked opponent this season.

Freshman Callie Levin led three Solon players in double figures with a game-high 21 points and Holubar added 13 points and 14 rebounds as Solon improved to 2-2.

“I’ve never been one to back away from a challenge and we went out and tried to get some tough games to start this season,” Solon coach Jamie Smith said. “As long as you don’t dwell on the loss and you try to get better I think it makes you better in the end.”

Solon was outscored by a combined 35 points in losses to Class 4A fifth-ranked Central DeWitt and No. 14 Clear Creek Amana last week.

The 63-44 loss to Clear Creek Amana on Friday in which Solon was outscored 15-2 in the opening quarter was especially tough to swallow.

“We didn’t like ending the week on a loss on Friday,” Solon senior Kaia Holtkamp said. “Coming into this week and starting with a win is really big for our team and hopefully we are getting that positive energy going.”

Rather than dwell on those losses, Solon put them in the past and got back to work on Tuesday starting on the defensive end.

The 45 points for Williamsburg were a season low and came on 33 percent shooting/

Williamsburg (1-1) entered averaging 64 points per game this season but Solon limited the Raiders to 19 first-half points while forcing 13 turnovers in the opening two quarters.

“I thought we did a really good job defensively,” Smith said. “I told the girls Williamsburg has varsity uniforms on too they are going to score but I thought we stuck with it. We stuck with it, we kept playing and they got a couple runs but I thought defensively we did a really, really good job.”

Levin gave Solon a 9-7 lead with a driving layup with 4 seconds left in the opening quarter.

Solon took control of the game with an 8-0 burst in the opening 70 seconds of the second quarter to push the lead to double figures.

Makinley Levin started the run with a basket and Callie Levin followed with a conventional 3-point play and a 3-pointer that gave Solon a 17-7 lead with 6:49 left in the first half.

“We wanted to come out and play with some energy and I thought we did,” Smith said. “I thought we had some enthusiasm. We kind of tried to brush last week off a little bit and get better from it and I think we got better tonight.”

Solon led 32-19 at the half and never let that lead sink into single digits.

The Spartans went more than four minutes without a point in the third quarter but locked down defensively holding Williamsburg to 3-of-13 shooting in the third quarter.

“Defensive is a huge part of how we play,” Holubar said. “Our team is kind of an offensive team but it takes defense and offense to win games and we are just constantly working on our defense.”

Makinley Levin finished with 11 points to join Callie Levin and Holubar in double figures.

Williamsburg guards Charlotte Wetjen and Taylor Winegarden combined to average 33 points per game through the Raiders first two games.

Solon held the Raider backcourt combo to 16 points on combined 6-of-27 shooting on Tuesday.

“I think that is where we are making huge steps is on defense,” Holtkamp said. “Now it’s our defense that carries over to our offense and that’s really fun.”

Solon                             9  23  10 14  –  56

Williamsburg             7  12   9  17  –  45

Solon (56) – Claire LaDage 0-2 0-0 0, Ava Stebral 0-1 2-2 2, Hailey Miller 0-1 0-2 0, Kaia Holtkamp 2-6 2-3 6, Makinley Levin 4-9 2-2 11, Callie Levin 8-20 3-3 21, Jada Buffington 1-1 0-0 3, Hilary Wilson 0-1 0-0 0, Elly Holubar 5-10 3-4 13, Totals 20-51 12-17 56.

Williamsburg (45) – Charlotte Wetjen 5-16 0-0 13, Carly Campbell 1-1 0-0 2, Teagan Schaefer 3-12 1-2 7, Kendra Eichhorn 4-7 4-8 12, Taylor Winegarden 1-11 0-2 3, Mia Brecht 0-2 0-4 0, Lauren Pope 4-5 0-0 8, Totals 18-54 5-16 45.

3-point field goals – SOL 4-19 (LaDage 0-2, Stebral 0-1, Miller 0-1, Holtkamp 0-3, M. Levin 1-3, C. Levin 2-6, Buffington 1-1, Holubar 0-2), WB 4-15 (Wetjen 3-8, Schaefer 0-1, Winegarden 1-6). Rebounds – SOL 33 (Holubar 14), WB 36 (Eichhorn 13). Turnovers – SOL 17, WB 15. Total fouls – SOL 18, WB 15. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.

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