By TYLER HENRY
Salina Post contributor
Despite starting their season just 3-12, the Solomon girls’ basketball team is trending in the right direction after a 2-16 campaign last year, and continues to exude positivity going into the home stretch.
“The growth mindset in our girls has been the best thing I’ve seen this season,” first-year head coach Luke Riordan said. “Even though our record isn’t the best they’ve stayed dedicated and worked hard. They’ve been resilient and they want to get better, that makes it a lot easier as a coach.”
That growth has been the most visible on the offensive end, where the Lady Gorillas have slowly closed the gap to their opponents on average, after scoring less than 25 points in six of their first seven games.
“Our ability to get the ball down the court and break a press has improved considerably since the beginning of the season,” Riordan said. “We’re not turning the ball over nearly as much. We’ve also seen a lot of improvement in our shooting ability. We had to do a lot of work in practice but we’ve been moving it around and taking better shots.”
While the improvement has been reassuring to see, Solomon still has a way to go before they can go toe-to-toe with some of the bigger opponents on their schedule, but understands that to be their biggest challenge, and remains dedicated to working on it one day at a time.
“We’ve improved on offense but to win more games we still need to put more points on the board,” he said. “We’re working on understanding spacing and knowing where we need to be so we can play more organized on the floor.”
With one of the youngest rosters in the state of Kansas, featuring just three upperclassmen, the Lady Gorillas faced an uphill battle from the outset, but have received reinforcements in the form of a talented freshman class that has given them big minutes down the stretch.
Of those freshmen, Kilynne McCook, Payton Ballou, and Caylee Cook have emerged as major pieces in the Lady Gorilla rotation, and continue to improve with every passing game.
“My biggest surprise has come from the freshmen we have,” Riordan said. “The junior high coach did a great job with them and they’re fundamentally sound and work well together. They’ve complimented our older girls very well and they’re learning from our veterans as well.”
Many 3-12 teams would choose to hang their heads and start investing less in the day-to-day battles, but Solomon’s effort has remained consistent, as the Lady Gorillas build towards a brighter future that many of these young players will be a part of.
“Our overall effort has been second to none and I couldn’t ask for anything more,” he said. “We’re growing a lot in the weight room and the girls play well together and play hard every single day. They push each other and I have some very good captains in Lacie McGlaughlin and Taytum Anderson that are great about setting an example for our younger players.”
While their schedule won’t get much easier, Solomon is less concerned with results, and more concerned with continuing to see steady growth as the Lady Gorillas enter the final month of their season.
“We’d love to have a few more wins but we want to make sure that we don’t get discouraged and start going backward,” Riordan said. “They see the benefit of their hard work, they’ve bought into the program and even though our record doesn’t show much positivity they’ve seen the progress.”
Solomon will be back in action on Friday night when the team travels to Rural Vista to take on the Heat.
For continuing coverage of Lady Gorilla hoops all season long, stay tuned to the Salina Post.