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ROCKY RIVER, OH – A 39-point night from Solon Comet Mackenzie Blackford was extremely impressive but came on the losing end of a 83-72 defeat to Magnificat. The Blue Streaks were able to stifle every run by the Comets, with one of their own in a back and forth and highly entertaining game tonight. We spoke with Magnificat Blue Streak Head Coach Danny Gallagher about his team’s ability to weather every Comet run after building the lead that they did, “ We are battle tested because of our schedule putting us in the position that we are right now. We are ready for anything, and this Solon team showed us everything tonight. The Comets are a really good basketball team, I think they are top 3 in the area. We’ve talked to these girls about mental toughness to make the adjustments and strive towards perfect execution. We also have our values that we rely on and stick to those.”
Those values Gallagher spoke of came though big tonight in some tough spots as the game saw an incredible 155 combined points scored. A big factor in the win was the inside presence of Gemma Wichman, who also showed her outside game at one point by nailing a three pointer. We spoke to Wichman after the game about it all, “I have a ton of confidence in practice because of my teammates and they keep pushing me to keep shooting. This helps makes me a threat and will also open up my other teammates off ball, I think all around it will help my team and myself. “
Wichman had 13 points while the Blue Streaks were led by Reese Roggenburk with 23. 12 of those 23 from Reese came in the fourth quarter, as her fourth quarter press breaks ended up putting the nail in the coffin of the Comets who had nothing to stop it. Julia Hall finished with 13 as 6 of those came from the charity stripe while Sofia Wilson had 13 as well. Also helping the Blue Streak attack was Brynn Roggenburk with 12 while Katie Maryo finished with 7.
As mentioned, the Comets were led by the sensational Senior Mackenzie Blackford with 39, just two shy of tying the school record, while Sophia Lance had 11 and Erica Olszewski had 7. The Comet scoring was finished with Kalelyn Gaymon scoring 6 while Kaylee Levenhagen had 5 and Nia Booker with 4.
The high scoring game began with some serious scoring as it was 13- 6 within seconds after a couple of three balls from Brynn Roggenburk, a three ball from Wilson and two buckets from Reese Roggenburk. After a Comet run to cut it to 13-11, the Blue Streaks scored the final 8 in the quarter thanks in part to huge shots from Maryo and Hall. The first quarter ended with Magnificat on top 21-11.
Much of the second quarter was evenly paced as it remained a 10-point difference for most of it. Towards the end however, a Blackford 3 ball cut it to 33-26, before a 6-0 run by the Blue Streaks gave them a commanding 39-26 lead at the break.
The third quarter saw a lot of points, but the Comets still trailed by 13 when it was over as they made no ground on the Blue Streaks. Reese Roggenburk took over the fourth quarter and helped the Blue Streaks build their biggest lead of the game at 66-49 at one point. Eventually Blackford got red hot and couldn’t be stopped as the Comets sliced it to 77-67 at one point, but it just wasn’t enough as the Blue Streaks hung on for the win.
