Girl’s Basketball Preview

Seven year head coach for the Comets Trish Kruse has very high hopes for the team after finishing the regular season last year with a record of 21-4 and coming very close to bringing home a championship trophy.

“We are really excited,” Kruse said. “Our expectations are to compete every single game and challenge our opponents.”

Solon’s new team differs greatly from the one that we saw last season. With most of the team’s key leaders graduating, the door has opened for plenty of new talented players to try and make up for the loss.

“It’s very different,” Kruse said. “Last year we had five seniors, this year we only have three. We’re not quite as deep as we were last year, but it’s going to be a process and we’re going to try to find those kids to fit to those spots.”

Brian Wisniewski is the new assistant coach for the varsity team. Having coached the junior varsity team for the past five years, his experience will be much needed down the stretch this season.

“This is my sixth year being involved in the program,” Wisniewski said. “No matter the level I’m coaching I think the hope [and] expectation has always been to help our program get better each day.”

But, when coaching a contender like the Comets, there is a bit of added pressure. Trying to follow the accomplishments of last season is a heavy burden to bear, but a coach like Wisniewski understands that focusing on the present and not the future is how the team will win.

“I think it’s really hard to get better during the season when you’re already thinking about the end of it,” Wisniewski said. “We focus daily on the things we can control. You really only start to feel pressure when you worry about things outside of your control. We certainly have high expectations as a program, but it all starts with our effort and attitude each day.”

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Solon after beating Jackson at Regionals to advance to States last season.

Junior guard Dee Bekelja, who averaged just over 16 points and 1.5 steals last season, is also setting the bar high for the team this year. Bekelja led the team in scoring by a large margin last year and looks to accomplish this feat again after scoring 22 points in their first game against St. Vincent St. Mary.

“Our expectations this season are very high,” Bekelja said. “We expect to make it back down to Columbus again and this time get to the championship.”

The team comes with several new pieces and parts that will surely make for an interesting season. Though considerable losses both on the court and in the locker room may hinder the team, there is reason to believe their chemistry and young talent will help them overcome such difficulty.

“Last year we were very senior heavy and had a lot of great leadership,” Bekelja said. “This year, we are pretty young, but we still have a few returners from last year. We don’t have very much height besides our one post Valencia Meyers and the rest of us are pretty much guards. But I think we have gotten better at buying into what coach tells us to do, and also we have gotten better at playing as a team and sharing the ball.”

As the upcoming season gets ready to unfold, Bekelja and her teammates are confident and look to put their best effort forward on their road to success.

“We are very excited for this season,” Bekelja said.  “We think we will be able to be very successful and have a lot of fun.”