Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

DES MOINES – No one at Solon has given a specific name to the role that Anna Quillin plays for the third-ranked Spartans.

Whatever you chose to call a player like Quillin every good basketball team has one.

The glue girl.

The defender.

The hustler.

The player that does the little things.

“We don’t really have a name for it,” Quillin said following Solon’s state quarterfinal win over Dubuque Wahlert. “I do whatever I need to do to help us win.”

Her role may not be creatively named but there is no mistaking what Quillin brings to the table for Solon.

“Rebounds, hustle, just effort overall,” Quillin said. “I’m not always going to shoot but I am going to give effort, I’m going to box out and get rebounds.”

There is also no downplaying how important the 5-foot-8 Quillin has been in the success of Solon (22-3) this season.

Quillin enters Thursday’s Class 3A state semifinal contest with second-ranked Des Moines Christian (24-1) at 3:15 p.m. Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines leading Solon and ranking 15^th in 3A with 9.2 rebounds per game.

Perhaps never has Quillin filled her role better than she did in a quarterfinal win over seventh-ranked Dubuque Wahlert on Tuesday.

Quillin matched her career-high with 16 rebounds and added eight points, two blocked shots and an assist while playing 29 minutes in the win over the Golden Eagles sending Solon back to the state semifinals for the second consecutive season.

“She isn’t going to score a lot in our offense but you don’t have to define a role for Anna,” Solon coach Jamie Smith said. “You just tell her what to do and she defines the role herself.”

The role of a rebounder and interior defender wasn’t always crystal clear for Quillin.

She was a perimeter player as a youth but saw a path to playing time as the unheralded hustler that did the dirty work.

“I wasn’t always an inside player but I can jump a little and I can be aggressive,” Quillin said. “We have scorers, we have people who can play defense but we needed someone who could crash boards and rebound and I knew I had the ability to do that so being able to step up and take that role was big for me.”

Quillin played sparing as a sophomore and began to blossom in her current role last season averaging 5 points and a team-high 6.3 rebounds while helping Solon reach the 3A semifinals where it lost to eventual champion Sioux Center.

As a senior Quillin has upped her game to a new level.

Quillin averages 4.9 points and leads Solon with 9.2 rebounds per game.

“She is tough,” Solon senior point guard Callie Levin said. “She is boxing out and doing anything she can to get the ball in my hands, to get the ball in Hailey’s (Miller) hands and that’s the player we need, she knows her role and that’s so great for our team.”

Quillin has 10 games this season with double digit rebounds including three double-doubles.

She has corralled at least 20 times this season and is averaging seven points and 12 rebounds per game in three postseason games.

“I learned to read the ball and read my teammates and the kind of shots they were going to take,” Quillin said. “I just had to work at rebounding and learn to be aggressive.”

Quillin does her best work on defense and as a rebounder but can affect the game on both ends of the court.

She is shooting 52 percent from the field and has more assists (28) than turnovers (23).

“I know the role that I have but I will do whatever I can to help us win,” Quillin said.

Quillin and the Spartans need one more victory to return to the state title game.

Des Moines Christian advanced to the semifinals with a 49-46 win over last year’s 3A runner-up Benton Community on Monday evening.

The quarterfinal win was the 21^st in a row for Des Moines Christian who hasn’t loss since a December 1 setback to 4A state qualifier Dallas Center-Grimes.

“They are disciplined, they obviously only have one loss and they beat a good Benton team last night,” Smith said. “We are going to have to be ready to play on Thursday because they are good and they have a lot of momentum and confidence.”

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