Harper's Solsaa sidelined; Suljic nets NJCAA honor
The Harper College women's basketball team got some good news recently, claiming their first victory in a run of five straight games on the road with a 70-65 triumph over host Oakton Community College on Tuesday.
The bad news, though, was pretty bad: freshman guard Nastia Solsaa will miss the rest of the season after suffering a torn ACL in her right knee during the second half of a loss at Elgin Community College on Nov. 25.
Solsaa will undergo surgery to repair the injury Tuesday.
"We lost one of our better guards," said second-year Harper coach Jenny Turpel. "Now we are only down to having Kim (Herzog) handle the ball."
Turpel says the team hopes to add a guard to the roster in the second half of the season.
The victory over Oakton (4-6) improved Harper's record to 5-6 before Thursday's game against Kennedy-King College.
After trailing Oakton 39-23 at halftime, the Hawks bounced back in a big way, outscoring the Raiders 47-26 the rest of the way.
Joslyn Nicholson had a monster game, finishing with a team-high 32 points and grabbing 14 rebounds for her second double-double in as many games. She also had 3 assists.
In their first game without Solsaa last Friday, Harper suffered a 62-58 loss to Trinity Christian College. Nicholson accounted for 18 of the Hawks' 35 rebounds and had a game-high 18 points along with 2 steals and a blocked shot. Herzog (Buffalo Grove) and Ashonte Sims each had 6 points.
Suljic steps up: The NJCAA national office announced that Harper men's basketball freshman forward Admir Suljic has been named the NJCAA Division III National Player of the Week for the week of Dec. 1-7.
In Suljic's one game during that time period, he played a huge part in the Hawks' 90-81 road win against the Olivet Nazarene University JV team. The 6-foot-5 forward poured in a career-high 35 points on 11-of-18 shooting, including seven 3-pointers. He showed off his versatility as he also snagged 12 rebounds, handed out 6 assists and blocked 3 shots.
"Admir is a high-level player. He has worked tirelessly on transitioning to the speed of the college game, and it was only a matter of time before he found his groove and had a statement game," said Harper coach Justin Welke.
In 11 games this year, Suljic is averaging 16.4 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.2 steals. He is shooting 47.5 percent (28-of-59) from 3-point territory.
"He's so dependable and committed; he never takes a day off and always finds a way to balance and prioritize," Welke said. "Both athletically and academically, he embodies what the Harper basketball program is all about."
The Hawks later collected their fifth win of the season with a 77-65 victory at Oakton. Suljic and Davion Benton combined for 51 points and 7 blocked shots, and Harper also got a boost from Jalon Round (Fremd, 11 points) and Jamal Sherman (Maine West, 12).
Next up for the Hawks (5-6) is a Saturday game at Parkland College in Champaign.
Mat matters: After Thanksgiving break, the No. 9-ranked Harper College wrestling team recently took part in the Wisconsin Open hosted by Wisconsin-Parkside, where Hawks sophomore Blake Tisza was able to capture the his second individual title of the season at 157 pounds.
Tisza's key bout came in the quarterfinals, where he defeated Minnesota's Dylan Urbach by fall. Kerin Ramirez also gave the Hawks a nice finish with fifth at 141 pounds .
On Saturday, the Hawks compete in the Art Kraft Memorial Open hosted by Triton College.