Mountain Iron-Buhl Seniors Reflect on Final Season

Zubich, Havela, Lira and Aubrey all to play college basketball

VIRGINIA, Minn.- On Thursday, a quartet of Mountain Iron-Buhl seniors had a chance to decompress from their Class A State Championship loss earlier this month.

Jordan Zubich, Hali Savela, Gabby Lira and Suzy Aubrey were all selected to play in the Iron Range Engineering Senior All-Star Game. “I think it (was) a good break from playing.” said Zubich in regard to the two weeks since their 70-65 defeat to Goodhue at Williams Arena.

During their break from basketball, these girls have each had time to gain some valuable perspective on their senior season. “I think it’s honestly a blessing.” says Savela. “Of course, we would have wanted to come out on top. But (after) having such a successful run, it was really easy to just walk away knowing that we laid everything out there and we did what we could.”

“I think it was honestly our goal this year was to win a state championship, but it was also to have fun. And we accomplished at least one of those goals.” Added Zubich.

“Obviously, we wanted to win,” Aubrey agreed. “But you know, I’m really proud of all of us. And our seniors got to have fun our last year.”

Despite the loss, each senior said they were comforted knowing their bond was still intact. “”I feel like it was really important because we were all there for each other,” says Lira. “The second the buzzer went off, we just looked for each other because we knew that they felt the same way we felt.”

With graduation in sight, plans for college are starting to become clearer for each senior. Both Lira and Aubrey will stay in the Iron Range to play for Mesabi Range. Meanwhile, Savela will head to Jamestown, along with another local basketball standout. “My friend — Jess Lofstrom from Grand Rapids — she’s also going to be my roommate, so we’ve been talking about just everything about Jamestown. We’re super excited to go out there together. ”

Zubich — who was a highly sought-after recruit — will soon begin her college hoops journey at the University of Carolina. “On Monday, I have a zoom call to get like spring training and stuff and conditioning. So (I’m) super excited for that.”

It’s also starting to click for Zubich that she’ll soon be playing against some of the other top players in the country. “”I think my Coach told me that one of our first scrimmages is against South Carolina. So that’s definitely a great start to my career.”

With a bright future ahead for all four of these girls, focusing on one game doesn’t really do any of their high school careers justice. Instead, it’s worth remembering the people who got them through every win, loss and everything in between.

“We’ve been playing together since we were in like kindergarten,” smiles Zubich. “So I think it’s so weird (that) I’ve been playing with these girls since I could talk, and now it’s all just over on some random Saturday in March.”

“These people out there, they’re my teammates and my friends and they really supported me,” says Savela. “And without them, I wouldn’t have been able to reach my accomplishments and the goals that I had set.”