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Solon girls again advance to regional
(by Steve Novak - March 12, 2009)
Solon girls again advance to regional
By STEVEN NOVAK
For the second year in a row, the Solon girls basketball team has made it to the Sweet 16 of Division I playoffs.
The lady Comets clinched their spot in the regionals with a convincing 52-37 win over Olmsted Falls in the district final game held at Valley Forge High School.
The Comets were led by a strong second-half performance by Kristen Holmes. Solon trailed 17-16 at the half, but then the team turned the tables and pulled ahead to a 31-22 lead at the end of the third period.
Solon's 15-point output in the third quarter occurred largely because the Comets began the second half with a spread offense, which gave more emphasis to one-on-one matchups between the opposing team.
Solon Coach Julie Solis said the decision to spread out her players more on offense gave them the opportunity to challenge each of their defenders individually.
"That's our strength, especially when they went back to their man-to-man defense," Solis said. "I told them to capitalize on it by controlling the ball off the dribble and also in transition."
In the third quarter, Holmes scored six of her team's 15 points. On defense, the Comets' tight defensive coverage held the Bulldogs to only five points in the quarter.
Besides scoring four of her team's last six points in the third period, Holmes also blocked a shot and helped to give her team the spark it needed to start beating the Olmsted Falls defenders off the dribble.
"She's been awesome the last eight or nine games," Solis said of Holmes. "She's back to herself. She's ready, and she's focused every day."
Throughout the second half, Solon was often able to hold the Bulldogs to only one shot each offensive possession because of key rebounds grabbed by Melissa Thompson. In the third quarter, Olmsted Falls was only able to take seven shots from the floor.
In the fourth period, Solon kept up the offensive attack and put the game out of reach of any possible comeback. Holmes and senior point guard Dana Banda scored seven points apiece in the eight-minute span.
Holmes had scoring honors for the game with 18 points. Melissa Thompson added 11 points, and Banda finished the game with nine points.
Holmes, who had a personal high of 26 points in a game earlier this season against Normandy, said she's looking forward to another chance to try to win the two regional games that would lead to the Division I state final four. She said it helps that some of her teammates also experienced regional games last year.
"Yeah, but this is an all new team, with about nine new players," she said. "I just want to get through regionals and make it on to state."
Coach Solis said she wasn't especially worried when her team only scored six points in the opening quarter of play and said that an early lack of points plagued the team earlier this season also.
"We were sluggish," she said. "I thought we were fiddling with the ball too much in the first half."
Solon defeated Strongsville 64-59 in the district semifinal game on March 5. The Comets will begin regional play this week against Westlake, with the game being played at Norwalk High School.
Last year, Solon defeated Marion Harding in the opening round of Division I regional competition at Norwalk. The Comets lost their regional final game to Toledo Central Catholic by a score of 51-49.
In 2006, the Solon girls' team was the Division I state runner-up, losing in the title game to Cincinnati Mount Notre Dame by a score of 56-36.
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