High school basketball: Solon upset of Strongsville lets Medina girls share GCC crown with Mustangs

An improbable upset Wednesday gave the idle Medina girls basketball team a share of the Greater Cleveland Conference championship for the second straight season. Despite playing without Northwestern recruit Hailey Weaver, who was out with a hand injury, Solon stunned first-place Strongsville 75-65 in a game that was rescheduled twice throughout the winter. Most of the Bees watched the game live on the Solon Education TV YouTube stream. "The GCC is so tough each season," Medina coach Karen Kase said. "We slipped up at Brunswick (Jan. 20), but prepared and played well in the league otherwise. Our senior class has experienced a lot of success in their four years, and back-to-back championships is rare. They've made sure we were prepared." The Bees (16-6, 9-2) completed their GCC schedule Feb. 11, when the Mustangs (10-6, 8-2) were on COVID-19 quarantine. The GCC agreed that Strongsville makeup games against Euclid (Dec. 9) and Mentor (Feb. 3) could be canceled on the condition that the Mustangs made up the second game with Solon (9-10, 7-5). The latter was originally scheduled for Tuesday but was pushed back to Wednesday. Even though Medina had one more win — the Bees did not play Euclid a second time — the GCC ruled a share would be the official designation because the Bees and Mustangs split their meetings. Coincidentally, Medina needed Strongsville to beat Solon in the last GCC game of the 2019-20 season to earn a title share. The Bees then handled their business three days later by beating Mentor to tie with the Comets at 11-3. "We have other goals ahead, but this is a great accomplishment for our team and we'll gladly share it," Kase said. Contact Albert Grindle at (330) 721-4043 or agrindle@medina-gazette.com.