Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

SOLON – A busy early-season schedule filled with games can present a challenge for any basketball team.

For Solon this season has been the exact opposite.

After a winter storm forced the postponement of the scheduled season opener against Linn-Mar last month the first nearly four weeks of the season for the Spartans was spent entirely on the practice courts.

Solon went 25 days from the first day of practice to its official opener last week, a 24-point loss at fourth-ranked Clear Creek Amana.

All the practices followed by a daunting opening game made for a long wait for a first win.

It also may have been the best thing for the Spartans in the long run.

“Before the first game it 20 something practices we had without playing a game,” senior Delainey Durr said. “It was hard but I think it really did prepare us.”

Class 4A No. 12 Solon got its long awaited first win on Tuesday with a 55-20 win over Grinnell (1-3) in a WAMAC cross-divisional matchup in Solon.

Tuesday’s game was just the second game in a month for the Spartans which improved to 1-1 on the season and 1-1 in WAMAC play.

“Our kids, they wanted a game, everybody wants a game but I think we really did get something out of all the practices we had,” Solon coach Jamie Smith said. “I think they handled it really well.”
Solon was still shaking off some noticeable rust in its home opener on Tuesday.

The Spartans were 9-of-25 from three throw line and made just four 3-pointers but relied on its defensive pressure in the 35-point win.

“Winning is hard,” Smith said. “We talk about it all the time, sometimes you aren’t going to shoot well or you aren’t going to shoot your free throws well but as long as we play defense like we do we are going to be around.”

Freshman Tenley Levin had 10 of her game-high 15 points in the first half as Solon built a 29-9 halftime advantage.

Durr added 13 points and Laney Johnson had 10 as Solon steadily pulled away.

“We still have a lot of kids learning but I’d rather learn something from a win than a loss.” Smith said. “There is a lot we can still learn but we did some good things.”

As it often has under Smith, Solon leaned on its defense on Tuesday.

The Spartans didn’t allow more than a seven points in any quarter while limiting Grinnell to 20 points, its second lowest output in for games this season.

“Coach always preaches if we do what we do we are going to do amazing things,” Durr said. “The defense is definitely a big part of that.”

Sophomore Avery Johnson had six points off the bench while juniors Jerzey Haluska had five points and junior Sophia Link had four.

“Our offense will come,” Smith said. “We have to move the ball a little better and that’s on me but our offense will come along as long as we play defense we’ll be there.”

Grinnell          7    2    4    7   –  20

Solon             18  11  14  12  –  55

Solon (55) – Tenley Levin 15, Delainey Durr 13, Laney Johnson 10, Avery Johnson 6, Jerzey Haluska 5, Sophia Link 4, Laeni Hinkle 2

Grinnell (20) – Hope Dana 7, Ava Seney 6, Aiden Gosselink 4, Isabel Kenkel 2, Haydlee Harter 1

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