SOLON — Last season was right out of Hollywood for the Solon girls’ basketball team. After dropping two games in mid-January, the team won 12 consecutive games on their way to a Class 3A Iowa State Championship, beating top-ranked Estherville-Lincoln Central 54-47 in the finals at the State Tournament as the exclamation point on the year.
As fun as last season was for Solon, it is now time to turn the page to a new era of Lady Spartan basketball.
They saw four seniors graduate last year including Miss Iowa Basketball herself, Callie Levin. Those four seniors combined for 1,268 points, nearly 75% of the team’s total points. The team this year will be young, but talented and hungry to defend a championship. It all starts with senior Kobie Lietz. The guard started in all 27 games last season and dished out 49 assists with 59 steals. She also grabbed 71 rebounds as one of the shorter players on the court at 5’6.
Junior Delanie Durr will also bring some much needed experience to the Lady Spartans roster. Durr played in 23 games and averaged 4.6 points per game while coming off the bench.
Solon head coach Jamie Smith will look toward Durr and Lietz to provide the young team with veteran leadership.
The new era of Solon girls’ basketball will creep into the starting lineup and in key roles coming off the bench. Sophomore’s Laini Hinkle and Laney Johnson will look to take on major roles for the team this year.
They played in limited minutes off the bench last season, but both showed signs of a high ceiling for this season.
“Johnson is probably one of the better shooters I have ever coached,” said Smith, “Hinkle will be a bulldog on defense.” Jerzey Haluska will also look to play an important role this season. At 5’9, Haluska will be one of the taller players on the court and will provide some size and interior presence for the Lady Spartans.
Haluska will look to build toward living up to the legacy of her last name. Her father, Adam Haluska, played college hoops for both Iowa and Iowa State and was honored as 3rd team All-Big Ten his senior year as a Hawkeye.
The lack of game experience on the Lady Spartans does not worry Smith. “They took some pounding in practice last year,” said Smith, “Our practices were pretty intense and those kids got better because of the players we lost, so we’re going to lean on a lot of people here.”
The WaMaC will provide the Lady Spartans with plenty of competitive games all season long. Mount Vernon enters as the favorite as they return most of their key players from the semi final team last year. Clear Creek Amana will also be in the top pack of teams in the conference. Solon will play CCA on Dec. 6 at home and will battle with Mount Vernon on the road Dec. 17 and at home on Jan. 24.
The Lady Spartans will open their season Friday, Nov. 22 at home against Iowa City West. “Some people may think I’m crazy for scheduling [Iowa City West] for our first game, but we don’t shy away from who we’re playing,” said Smith, “I think we’ve built a program here, so the expectations are different now.”