SOLON — Jamie Smith hasn’t made a habit of replaying last year’s state-semifinal close call.
“Not as much as my wife,” he said. “I did watch it recently, though.”
And when he did, he felt the same way he did on the day of the real thing.
Consumed by pride.
“I didn’t sense any panic,” said Smith, girls’ basketball coach at Solon High. “They kept playing. We had kids step up, and we fell a little short.”
Trailing by 15 points in the third quarter and still down by seven when star player Callie Levin fouled out with 1:29 left, the Spartans didn’t fold. In fact, they had a shot to win it, but it rimmed out, and Sioux Center held on, 46-44.
The next night, Sioux Center won the Class 3A championship.
“It was hard sitting on the bench, but I knew I had to cheer them on,” Levin recalled. “Everybody got involved, and we almost pulled it off.”
That team started four juniors and a sophomore, and they’re all back.
The Spartans (23-3 in 2022-23) return 89 percent of their scoring and are The Gazette’s preseason 3A top-ranked team.
“We’re so determined to win,” Hailey Miller said. “When things aren’t going our way, we’re going to keep pushing. We’ve played together so long.”
Levin (18.5 points per game last season) committed to the University of Iowa shortly before her sophomore year, and signed with the Hawkeyes last week. She is a three-time first-team all-stater and has scored 1,391 career points.
“There’s always something new she brings into the next year,” Smith said.
This year, it’s a mid-range jumper.
“Sometimes you can’t get to the rim, and the 3-point line is (well-defended),” Levin said. “It’s good to incorporate that middle range, pulling up from the lane.”
Miller (10.9 ppg) was a second-team all-state pick last year and helped pick up the slack after Levin exited against Sioux Center.
“Last year gave me more confidence,” she said. “If I’m passing up shots, I’m not helping the team.”
The Spartans are somewhat smallish; Levin is the tallest returner at 5-foot-9, and 5-8 Anna Quillin was the leading rebounder last year. So they’ll rely on speed and full-court mayhem.
“We’re going to run. We’re going to play fast. We’re going to get up in your face,” Miller said.
Said the 5-foot-3 Mia Stahle, “We’re an undersized team that tries to make up for it with hustle plays.”
Stahle played the lead role of Sandy in the school’s “Grease” musical. Quillin was on the Spartans’ state-qualifying cross country squad, then took a week off for recovery.
Both are key members of Solon’s powerhouse track-and-field program.
“I’m ready for the season to start,” Quillin said. “It’s our last one.”
It should be a very good one. Maybe a memorable one.
And it starts Friday, at Martensdale-St. Marys, a strong 1A program.
The schedule is daunting. Other highlights include a Rivalry Saturday matchup with three-time defending 2A state champion Dike-New Hartford (Nov. 25), battles with Wamac Conference foes Clear Creek Amana, Benton Community and Mount Vernon, plus non-conference battles with Iowa City High, Iowa City West and Iowa City Regina.
Solon’s last girls’ basketball state championship came in 1998, the second of back-to-back 2A titles captured by the Lindsey Meder/Katie Miller crew.
This team is capable of breaking through.
“We’re coming off an incredible season,” Levin said. “But you can’t look back, because nothing is guaranteed.”
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