Mackenzie Blackford helping lead Solon girls basketball while also adjusting to life without her older sister
Morgan and Mackenzie Blackford are just one year apart and have played sports together their entire lives. So you’ll have to forgive Mackenzie if this basketball season feels a little different for the Solon senior guard.
With Morgan off at the Naval Academy running track – and contemplating a return to the basketball court as well – Mackenzie is now the elder Blackford sister on the Comets’ roster, two years older than younger sister Marissa.
“I definitely miss my older sister, but (this season is) fun,” Mackenzie Blackford said after scoring a game-high 33 points as the Comets defeated Wadsworth 60-43 on Dec. 15. “And I love playing with my younger sister Marissa, it’s so much fun.”
That fun has translated onto the court, where the Comets have jumped out to a 6-0 start overall and 5-0 in the Suburban League’s National Conference and are currently No. 8 in the SBLive Ohio Power 25 thanks to the experience of four seniors and a junior making up the starting lineup.
Blackford is joined by seniors Kaeyln Gaymon, Nia Booker and Sophia Lance as well as junior Erica Olszewski to start the game and senior Kaylee Levenhagen coming off the bench as the first sub.
“We're having so much fun as a team,” Blackford said. “I think that we're really meshing together as a team right now and we just have to keep up what we're doing because I think we've been playing really, really well together.”
But while there is still a 5-foot-8 Blackford in the lineup, there is also the void left by Morgan, which is larger than her 5-foot-8 frame. Thankfully for Solon, that’s where some of the experience has played a huge factor early in this season.
“You’re talking about two the hardest workers that I've coached,” Solon head coach Trish Kruse said of Morgan and Mackenzie. “When you lose another catalyst for your team, it's really challenging, their motor is unbelievable.
“And I think you saw it in Mack (against Wadsworth) but you lose another player like that it's frustrating sometimes for her, but I think some other kids have really stepped up and being that we have like five seniors and returning the experience that they have, it's so valuable.”
Not having her older sister by her side didn’t just start this winter for Mackenzie, which has helped in the transition early in the season. But even when she has a connection with other teammates, that sister-to-sister bond is a special one.
“It's definitely been an adjustment (playing without Morgan),” Mackenzie Blackford said. “We'd been playing together for a really long time and starting summer league and stuff was really different at first just to not have her out there because she was someone who I always knew would have my back. Not that my other teammates don't, but just that connection that we had. It's irreplaceable.”
Solon guard Mackenzie Blackford calls out the offense in a district final win over Massillon Jackson on February 24, 2023. Photo credit: Jeff Harwell, SBLive Sports
Jeff Harwell, SBLive Sports
Something else that can’t be replaced or replicated is the intensity of the sibling rivalry, if you will, between the two sisters. There were even times they were not permitted to play against one another because the games would get so extreme.
“My mom didn't want either of us getting hurt whenever we would play against each other because we're so competitive,” Makenzie said. “Like any 1-on-1 game that we would ever have would always end in tears or someone screaming at someone and someone yelling ‘mom, she did this.’ And that's definitely another thing I miss because in practice, we would just push each other so much.”
Their head coach just laughs when asked about those practices.
“It was unbelievable because they would argue and fight, just verbally, but they would argue and then they would call fouls against each other,” Kruse said. “I was like, ‘Oh my God,’ but I played with my sister and I know what it was like and we talked about it last year on how special it was to play for three years with your sister and they're a really special duo.”
The younger sister won’t have to wait long to be reunited with her old running mate, as Morgan is scheduled to come home this week for the holidays after being home for a few days at Thanksgiving. Mackenzie is already looking forward to that visit, and her eyes lit up when talking about time with her big sister.
“I am looking forward to it so much,” Mackenzie said. “It was great when she came back for Thanksgiving, but it was only like five or so days. I'm excited to have her back for two weeks. It'll be great to have her back in the house. And we'll go shoot together and stuff and I'm so excited to do that.”
The closeness of the two older siblings doesn’t mean Marissa, a sophomore this year, is left out.
“I definitely have (that bond) with Marissa,” Mackenzie said. “I think it was more with Morgan just because we were so close in age and we'd been playing together for so long, but it's definitely there with Marissa too.”
The youngest of the three Blackford sisters also saw action against Wadsworth and is a hard worker just like her two older sisters, while doing things to help contribute to a win.
“Marissa did a great job for us (against Wadsworth) coming off the bench and giving us some energy,” Kruse said. “She got a couple of steals and rebounds and was doing different things. She does a really good job of just being coachable and working hard.”
Next year, it will be just Marissa at Solon, as Mackenzie is off to Duquesne University in Pittsburgh to play basketball. But her decision to attend Duquesne goes deeper than the basketball court.
“The main reason that I picked (Duquesne) was the academics,” Mackenzie said. “It had really high academics and health sciences, which is what I want to go into, and they have a really strong program there.”
Basketball of course also played a role, and the atmosphere at Duquesne reminded Blackford of home.
“The coaching staff was just amazing when I when I first met them and when I talked to them on the phone,” Mackenzie said. “They were so welcoming, and I definitely could feel just how much of a family they are there which we always say family here at Solon and so it just definitely really drew me in when I went there. And the campus is amazing.”
There is also a family connection to Pennsylvania for the Blackfords.
“I love the city of Pittsburgh, my mom graduated from Pitt and we have a lot of family around there,” Mackenzie said. “It just really worked out and it's not too far away from home but it's a good distance away.”
After this season, two of the three Blackford sisters will have come and gone through Solon, and Marissa will have two seasons left. What does the head coach do when the Blackford family tree finally grows bare?
“I don’t know, stop coaching,” Kruse joked.
