The Lady Spartans varsity basketball team exited regional tournament play, falling 59-52 to a reinvigorated Benton Bobcat team on Feb. 19, there. The week started with Solon’s final regular-season game at Benton with the Lady Spartans capturing a victory in non-conference play 71-62 on Feb. 14, and a win in the Class 4A Region 4 Quarterfinal, on Feb. 16, in a domination of the Burlington Grayhounds at home 70-9.
Solon rolled into Van Horne on Feb. 14 on a four-game win streak and carried the momentum into the first quarter of the game running up an 11 point lead, 16-5. Benton rallied in the second quarter, nearly matching the Lady Spartans’ performance, but remained behind 38-26. The Bobcats took the third quarter outscoring Solon, and Solon held a ten-point lead, 50-40, entering the final quarter.
Benton’s Jenna Twedt led all scorers with 37 points. Callie Levin scored 30 points, including a trio of three-pointers, while racking up eight assists. Kaia Holtkamp scored 23 points including a pair of three-pointers. Elly Holubar led all under the boards snatching 13 rebounds.
The Lady Spartans committed 11 turnovers to the Bobcats nine.
Callie and Holtkamp headed Solon’s scoring with MaKinley Levin adding eight including one three-point basket, Holubar with five, Hailey Miller with four and Ava Stebral one.
Holubar’s rebounding was supported by three from Holtkamp, MaK and Ava Stebral, two from Callie and Hailey Miller, and one courtesy of Claire LaDage. Holtkamp, MaK and Holubar were credited for one assist apiece.
Callie stole the ball twice while Stebral, Holtkamp and Holubar each added one.
The Levin sisters, MaK and Callie, recorded a block each.
“Very good game by our team,” Head Coach Jamie Smith praised. “Good game with a game of runs. We couldn’t really pull away from Benton. Got up 15 a few times and Benton would hit 3-4 shots in a row to keep it close. We did a great job at the line in the fourth quarter to seal the win. It was a great game.”
“Callie just has a knack at getting to the basket when she needs to,” he added. “We did a good job of finding her when we needed to.
“Kaia had the best game of her career at Solon. She hit a couple of big threes and got to the basket well. And Elly’s rebounding was great.”
The start of the postseason for Solon began on Wednesday, Feb. 16, on the home hardwood as the Burlington Grayhounds visited, only to be thoroughly dispatched by the Lady Spartans in a domineering fashion as the entire second half was under the continuous clock and the entire varsity team recorded minutes on the court. Solon hit the accelerator, pouring in 24 points, and restricting Burlington to just two, before boosting it to 55-4 at the half and implementing the continuous clock following the half. Solon implemented wholesale lineup exchanges, getting all varsity players an opportunity on the court, yielding a 57-4 lead at the end of the third.
Callie led all scorers with 15 including two three-pointers, Mia Stahle added eight with two three-pointers, Miller and Stebral scored seven apiece with a three, MaK and LaDage recorded six points each, Ana Quillin scored five points including a three, Alex Locke and Kassidy Lietz scored four points apiece, Hillary Wilson dropped a three, Holtkamp and Sara Holtz scored two points each and Holubar dropped one point.
MaK grabbed five rebounds, Callie and Holubar pulled down four apiece, Holtkamp, Stahle and Locke were responsible for three each, Stebral, Lietz and Wilson had two each and LaDage, Quillin and Sara Holtz were responsible for one each.
Callie, Stahle and Wilson racked up three assists apiece, Holtkamp, Holtz and Locke recorded two each, and MaK, Holubar, LaDage, Miller and Kerrigan Lyons all recorded one assist.
Holtkamp, Locke, and the Levin sisters, MaK and Callie, were responsible for four steals each, Stebral, LaDage and Miller pilfered three apiece, Wilson recorded two, and Holubar and Stahle accounted for one each.
The Lady Spartans committed 13 turnovers during the game.
“You have to play who you are scheduled to play,” Coach Smith commented. “Always nice to get a win. We were able to rest some legs and some players that have worked hard got to play that maybe normally don’t. So, we will take it.”
He was quick to praise all the players following the one-sided victory.
“I would say that everyone who played did a great job,” he hailed.
Solon’s victory over Burlington eliminated the Grayhounds from the postseason and catapulted the Lady Spartans into the Class 4A Region 4 Semifinal, at Benton Community High School, in Van Horne on Saturday, Feb. 19.
Coach Smith, ever a proponent of one game at a time, was quick to turn his attention to Saturday’s game.
“Benton will be tough,” he assessed.” I am sure they will be ready to defend their home court. They are obviously a real good team, and we will have to play exceptionally well to win. It should be a great game.”
It is always hard to beat a team twice in a season, is the old adage, but what happens when it becomes twice in a week?
The Lady Spartans had to answer the question following tip-off.
“Really good game back and forth throughout the game,” Coach Smith narrated. “I thought we did a great job on offense in the first quarter and then we got a little stagnant. The ball quit moving in the second quarter, but we did a great job closing the gap to end up down two at half.”
He continued, “Third quarter, we got the lead but again didn’t make some shots. Fourth quarter, they hit some big threes to get up by 11, but we kept fighting and had a chance to cut it to two with around 20 seconds left but missed a bunny and they hit free throws. Benton hit their last ten free throws and that’s what good teams do at the end of the game.”
The game breakdown was not available prior to deadline. But the 59-52 Class 4A Region 4 Semifinal loss ended the Lady Spartans’ season at 15-8, second in the WaMaC East Standings behind Marion (13-10, 12-5) with a 11-5 conference record, besting Mount Vernon (12-11, 8-8), Maquoketa (10-13, 7-10), West Delaware (10-13, 5-12) and Beckman Catholic (7-16, 4-13).
“Games like this comes down to making some plays and Benton did and we didn’t,” he surmised flatly. “We got a little tight in the third quarter and got lost on defense. When this happened, they made some shots. I thought Callie and MaK played a good game.”
Coach Smith refused to lean on the short turnaround in the week for the loss.
“Always concerned, especially with short turnaround and playing on the road, but they didn’t do anything that we weren’t expecting. Just one of those games, the other team won, not so much that we lost,” he concluded.
The Bobcats’ Jenna Twedt led all scorers on the court with 24 points with four threes, barely edging Solon’s Callie Levin’s 21 points with two and the Bobcats bested the Lady Spartans on the boards recording a total of 31 rebounds to Solon’s 14 team total. Solon limited themselves to just 11 turnovers in the game, besting Benton’s 18.
MaKinley Levin scored 12 with one three, Miller added nine with one three, Holtkamp added seven including a three, Stebral contributed two and LaDage added one.
Stebral, Holtkamp and Callie accrued three rebounds each and MaK and LaDage pulled down one each.
Callie led the team with two steals and MaK and Holtkamp grabbed one apiece. Callie also had one block.
“We will miss these seniors, they have built the foundation for this program,” Coach Smith reflected. “They were thrown into the fire as (freshmen) and finished the last two years 32-14 which includes a conference title, a regional final in 3A and a regional semifinal in 4A. They will be remembered for this, but hopefully more for being great people. Seniors — Ava Stebral, Alex Locke, MaKinley Levine, Kaia Holtkamp and Elly Holubar.”

Gallery • 6 Photos

Jeff Hess

Solon sophomore Callie Levin drops a tres in front of the home crowd during the Lady Spartans’ 70-9 spanking of the Burlington Grayhounds in the Class 4A Region 4 Quarterfinal on Wednesday, Feb. 16.