Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

SOLON – Solon got its biggest and likely its best win of the season on Tuesday.

It was the biggest based on opponent.

It was the best because of how the Spartans got their 66-54 win over Class 3A No. 14 Monticello.

Solon erased an early 11-point deficit with a dominant second half while evening its season record at 5-5 with its third win over a ranked team this season.

“We have really grown up a lot this season, even after last game I think we’ve grown,” Solon coach Jamie Smith said. “I think we are growing up physically, mentally and emotionally. All the way around we are growing up.”

Delainey Durr scored 17 of her team-high 25 points in the second half as Solon erased a six-point halftime deficit.

Freshman Quinn Armentrout had 13 points and Kobi Lietz added 11 for Solon which was playing its fifth consecutive game against a ranked opponent.

“Coach at halftime said we needed some leadership and he kind of called us out and said we need a leader,” Durr said. “I tried to step into that role for us tonight.”

Solon trailed 17-6 less than six minutes into the game as Monticello (7-4) made its first five attempts and went 8-of-13 from the field in the opening quarter.

The Spartans cut the margin to 30-24 at the half.

It was all Solon down the stretch.

We played better defense as the game went on,” Smith said. “We made things pretty easy for them in the beginning and I did call them out. We had to play better defense and I think we kept playing. The game is long and we kept playing.”

Solon needed less than five minutes in the second half to pull even, tying the score at 34-34 on back-to-back 3-pointers by Durr.

The junior guard had 10 points in the third quarter, on 3-of-4 3-point shooting, as Solon took a 42-41 lead into the fourth quarter.

“I think the second half she started moving a little bit more on offense which in turn when the ball got moved she was open,” Smith said of Durr. “She is one of those kids that you don’t see very often in high school when she gets hot there is a different look in her eye.”

Solon put the game away with a 10-0 run that took less than three minutes to open the fourth quarter.

Armentrout started the run with a 3-pointer and sophomore Jerzey Haluska capped the 10-0 spurt that pushed the lead to 52-41 with a conventional 3-point play with 5:44 remaining.

“Communication was the big thing,” Durr said. “The first half there was no communication and we were letting them shoot and we really picked up on the communication part of it after halftime and that really helped us have a better defensive half.”

Solon shot 53 percent from the field in the second half and had six of its eight 3-pointers in the final two quarters.

Durr had four second-half 3-pointers as Solon fended off a huge game from Monticello senior Jayden Kuper who finished with 31 points and 13 rebounds.

“Kuper is good, early we let some other kids get away from us but they had one 3 and we had eight and that’s our deal,” Smith said. “We know we are going to give up some stuff because of our size and we are going to try to hit some 3s and beat you that way.”

Solon forced Monticello into 18 turnovers and limited the Panthers to 39 percent shooting in the second half.

“I think our ball pressure picked up and that caused some turnovers,” Lietz said. “When we picked up our ball pressure that really helped us.”

Monticello               17  13  11  13  –  54

Solon                          11  13  18  24  –  66      

Monticello (54) – Hailey Henderson 2-4 0-0 5, Halle Recker 1-2 1-4 3, Kennedy Hermsen 4-14 1-2 9, Peyton Ries 0-0 2-2 2, Madilynn Krominga 0-3 0-0 0, Natalie Henderson 2-3 0-0 4, Jayden Kuper 14-22 3-5 31, Totals 23-48 7-13 54.

Solon (66) – Kobi Lietz 5-7 1-1 11, Delainey Durr 9-17 3-4 25, Laney Johnson 2-6 0-0 5, Quinn Armentrout 5-13 1-2 13, Laeni Hinkle 0-2 0-0 0, Jerzey Haluska 2-5 1-1 6, Beckett Kruse 2-5 2-2 6, Totals 25-55 8-10 66.

3-point field goals – Monticello 1-7 (Henderson 1-2, Hermsen 0-4, Kuper 0-1), Solon 8-27 (Lietz 0-1, Durr 4-10, Johnson 1-5, Armentrout 2-8, Haluska 1-2, Kruse 0-1). Rebounds – Monticello 32 (Kuper 13), Solon 28 (Kruse 9). Total fouls – Monticello 13, Solon 19. Turnovers – Monticello 18, Solon 7. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.

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