After losing to Medina, the Solon High School girls varsity basketball team took them on again and came back winning 64-57, an important win to earn the Greater Cleveland Conference title. After their win against Medina, they defeated Mentor, St. Joseph Academy and  Euclid with a score of 80-27 to cement themselves as Greater Cleveland Conference champions.

SHS junior Mackenzie Blackford scored 32 points against Medina, senior Morgan Blackford scored 21 and junior player Sophia Lance scored seven.

“The girls work really well together,” said girls varsity basketball coach Trish Kruse. ”They play together and fight for each other. They are committed to the team, the process and winning.”

After losing the first game against Medina, they decided they needed to make a change.

“We just worked together, and we knew that we should win– we were very motivated because we knew it was for the conference,” Mackenzie Blackford said.

Mackenzie Blackford also stated that working together as a team instead of alone was  beneficial to their win.

“The first time we played Medina this season we did not play that well as a team, but this past game we played as one,” Lance said.

Kruse stated that they did change things up from the last game against Medina.

“We guarded their schemes differently, pressuring them all over the court unlike the first time,” Kruse said. “We got into them and made them uncomfortable with the ball.”

As for teamwork, the girls have mottos and main ideas that they stick by. Kruse states that her mantra for the game is to play with relentless effort and to stay connected. Another main idea for the team is connection.

“Every game we write the word connect on our left hand,” Lance said.

Kruse stated that one of the team’s strengths is outworking their opponents for 32-minutes, playing with tempo, and playing together. She also said that they are working on improving their weakness of not being able to move on to the next play after making a mistake or missing a shot. She says they need to be better at having a ‘next play mentality’.

Mackenzie Blackford stated that the girls have hit a lot of adversity this year.

“We had two of our main players go out,” Mackenzie Blackford said. “I think just believing in each other has improved throughout the season because at first we were like ‘oh this isn’t going to go well without our two better players’ but we were still good without them.”

Kruse stated that the team has been big on team building activities and believes it has a great effect on their games.

“I feel our team this year has been the closest we have ever been,” Lance said.

The girls will face Lakeside on Feb. 16 at 7 p.m. for a home playoff game.