Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

MOUNT VERNON – Stuck in a shooting slump for most of the month Hailey Miller spent the first three quarters on Tuesday passing up open looks against the Mount Vernon 2-3 zone.

The Solon junior guard couldn’t have picked a better time to regain her offensive mojo.

Miller scored 10 of her 12 points in the fourth quarter as Class 3A third-ranked Solon rallied for a 56-50 win over No. 13 Mount Vernon in a WAMAC East Division  showdown in Mount Vernon.

“I had open shots in the first half and I just didn’t take them and coach was telling me I had to start shooting,” Miller said. “I haven’t been shooting very well and so hitting those in the fourth quarter felt really good.”

Entering Tuesday Miller had made two of her last 11 3-point attempts over a four-game span.

She missed her only field goal attempt in the first three quarters.

Miller came to life in the final seven minutes hitting 3-of-4 field goal attempts in the final 6:39 as Solon (13-1) stretched its winning streak to eight.

“We talked about that in the locker room that somebody needs to step up in road games against rated teams and good teams,” Solon coach Jamie Smith said. “Hailey was huge tonight.”

Callie Levin made all 13 of her field goal attempts and scored a game-high 24 points and Mia Stahle added 11 points for Solon.

It was Miller that was the offensive catalyst in a 17-point Spartan fourth quarter.

Miller gave Solon the lead for good with her first of two fourth-quarter 3-pointers with 6:39 remaining.

The second triple of the quarter by Miller gave Solon a 50-45 lead with 2:25 remaining and she hit a pair of free throws with 16 seconds left to seal the game.

“We started out really rough in the fourth quarter we started hitting shots and that gave us some momentum,” Miller said. “Obviously it’s Mount Vernon and we wanted to win this game so that gave us more of a push to finish this game.”

Solon missed all three field goal attempts in the first quarter and trailed 13-8 after eight minutes.

The Spartans closed the half on a 7-2 run to take a 28-25 lead but Mount Vernon scored the first 10 points of the second half to take its biggest lead of the game at 35-28.

Solon charged back.

Mia Stahle hit a pair of 3-pointers in the final 31 seconds of the third quarter as Solon closed the quarter on an 11-3 run.

The fourth quarter belonged the Miller and the Spartans.

“We had a pretty big fourth quarter, we’ve been in these situations before this year and I think that’s helped,” Smith said. “I think we are growing experience wise.”

Mount Vernon (9-6) took its final lead on a Lilly See free throw with 6:50 remaining but Miller gave the Spartans the lead for good with her 3-pointer with 6:39 left.

Solon made four free throws in the final minute and finished 22-of-23 from the free throw line.

“There have been a few games where we have struggled with our free throws so coach has really stressed to us to focus on our free throws because those are easy points,” Levin said. “It’s really big for our team.”

The Spartans had 21 turnovers and shot just 41 percent from the field but outscored the Mustangs by seven at the free throw line.

“Road games against good teams a lot of the time it will come down to turnovers, free throws, rebounding,” Smith said. “We had a lot of turnovers I’m sure tonight but we got to the line and made free throws.”

Chloe Meester had 14 of her 20 points in the second half for Mount Vernon while See added 14 points.

The Mustangs shot 46 percent but committed 18 turnovers, including five in the final quarter.

“We really pushed on the defensive end,” Levin said. “It was important to get ball pressure on them because they do have a really good post, so getting ball pressure and getting some steals got us back in the game.”

Solon                            8  20  11  17  –  56

Mount Vernon          13 12  13  12  –  50

Solon (56) – Kobi Lietz 1-4 2-2 5, Hailey Miller 3-5 4-4 12, Delainey Durr 1-2 0-0 2, Mia Stahle 3-8 3-4 11, Anna Quillin 0-0 0-0 0, Callie Levin 5-13 13-13 24, Hilary Wilson 1-2 0-0 2, Totals 14-34 22-23 56.

Mount Vernon (50) – Kameron Brand 0-1 0-0 0, Courtney Franck 3-4 0-0 6, Lilly See 4-7 6-9 14, Chloe Meester 7-13 6-6 20, Eryn Jackson 1-4 0-1 3, Brynley Rasmussen 0-6 1-2 1, Peyton Simpson 2-2 1-2 6, Totals 17-37 14-20 50.

3-point field goals – SOL 6-19 (Lietz 1-4, Miller 2-3, Durr 0-1, Stahle 2-6, Levin 1-5), MV 2-8 (Brand 0-1, Franck 0-1, See 0-1, Jackson 1-4, Simpson 1-1). Rebounds – SOL 25 (Levin 7), MV 21 (Brand 5). Turnovers – SOL 21, MV 18. Totals fouls – SOL 19, MV 16. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.

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