Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

CEDAR RAPIDS – With four starters returning from last year’s state semifinal team Solon already had an idea of how good it could be this season.

On Saturday the Spartans showed precisely how potent they can be.

Callie Levin scored 23 points as Class 3A second-ranked Solon held off 2A top-ranked and three-time defending state champion Dike-New Hartford 49-48 on Saturday evening at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids.

“They are ranked number one so that’s a really good win for us,” Levin said. “At the beginning of the season playing a team that is as good as they are I think teams are going to be scared to play us.”

Solon (2-0) hit 10 3-pointers on Saturday in its second consecutive win over a top-three rated team after downing 1A third-ranked Martensdale-St. Marys in the season opener last week.

Hailey Miller had 12 points for Solon, including the go-ahead 3-ppinter with 3:01 remaining as Solon overcame a two-point deficit in the final four minutes.

“We were tired with the pace of the game, we had trouble getting into our offense at times and some of that was them and some of that was us but I just like the way we finished,” Solo coach Jamie Smith said. “We finished and that’s hard. Winning is hard.”

Levin scored six points in the final 43 seconds of the opening quarter on a 3-pointer and a conventional 3-point play to put Solon in front 17-13 after one quarter.

The Spartans led 25-22 at the half and by as many as nine in the third quarter.

A 7-0 Dike-New Hartford run cut the lead to 33-35 but Miller hit a 3-pointer with 43 seconds remaining in the third quarter to give Solon a 38-33 advantage.

“We are a team of runs and that’s why we feel like we are never out of it and sometimes those runs go the opposite way,” Smith said. “We had kids that hit big shots for us.”

A Delainey Durr 3-pointer gave Solon a 41-33 lead just 20 seconds into the fourth quarter but Dike-New Hartford rallied.

The Wolverines score seven straight points to cut the lead to 41-40 and took their first lead since the 4:03 mark of the second quarter at 44-42 on a Jadyn Petersen layup with 3:26 remaining.

Solon responded with its own 7-0 run and never trailed again.

“We talked about doing what we do and doing it really well,” Levin said. “We never thought we were out of the game, we never thought we were going to lose the game and that is such an important mindset for us.”

Miller gave Solon the lead for good with a 3-pointer with 3:01 remaining and Levin and senior Mia Stahle followed with baskets to push the margin to 49-44.

Stahle had five points for Solon.

“We have some experience on the court, you can’t really throw a lot at these guys that they haven’t seen,” Smith said. “We made plays and it helps when you have four seniors.”

Dike-New Hartford had a chance late.

The Wolverines held Solon scoreless over the final 2:08 and cut the lead to 49-48 on back-to-back baskets by Jadyn and Payton Petersen.

Payton Petersen had a game-high 29 points on 12-of-16 shooting and nine rebounds to lead the Wolverines.

Dike-New Hartford had the ball with 10 seconds remaining but Levin came up with a steal with under a second to play to secure the win.

“The last four minutes we just busted our butts,” Levin said. “We protected the ball, we did what we needed to do on defense, we got good shots and that’s going to win you a bunch of games.”

Solon will host City High (0-1) on Tuesday that is part of a pre-holiday break schedule that also includes games with 4A, No. 2 Clear Creek Amana and 3A No. 12 Center Point-Urbana.

“We have a lot of good games coming up and I hope we can take this game and carry it into these games coming up,” Levin said. “These games are going to be hard but we are excited to play hard games at the beginning of the season to get us ready for the end of the season.”

Solon                                      17  8  13  11  –  49

Dike-New Hartford          13  9  11  15  –  48

Solon (49) – Kobi Lietz 2-8 0-0 6, Delainey Durr 1-3 0-0 3, Hailey Miller 4-10 1-2 12, Mia Stahle 2-7 0-0 5, Anna Quillin 0-1 0-0 0, Callie Levin 8-19 4-4 23, Jerzey Haluska 0-4 0-0 0, Totals 17-52 5-6 49.

Dike-New Hartford (48) – Jadyn Petersen 6-9 1-4 13, Izzy Norton 1-2 0-0 2, Payton Foster 2-7 0-0 4, Maryn Bixby 0-2 0-0 0, Maddie Buskohl 0-2 0-0 0, Payton Petersen 12-16 5-7 29, Silvey Fuller 0-0 0-2 0, Totals 21-38 6-13 0-2.

3-point field goals – SOL 10-32 (Lietz 2-7, Durr 1-3, Miller 3-6, Stahle 1-6, Levin 3-9, Haluska 0-1), D-NH 0-2 (Norton 0-1, Buskohl 0-1). Rebounds – SOL 19 (Quillin 7), D-NH 35 (P. Peterson 9). Turnovers – SOL 10, D-NH 19. Total fouls – SOL 18, D-NH 8. Fouled out – SOL (Haluska). Technical fouls – None.

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