Neither the Silverdale Lady Seahawks or the Boyd Buchanan Lady Buccaneers had planned to play a basketball game at 2:30 on Saturday afternoon, but neither of them had planned to lose in the semifinal round Friday night in the Division II, Class A East Region tournament being played at the Silverdale Center.
Silverdale got beat 47-40 by The King’s Academy on Friday night while the Lady Bucs lost 51-31 to CAK, forcing both to play the consolation game less than 24 hours later.
We all know how tough it is to beat the same team three times in the same season, much less four, but that’s exactly what the Lady Seahawks had to do as they improved to 28-6 with the 49-42 win.
Silverdale coach Victor Underwood knew it would be a real challenge for his girls to bounce back so quick after such an emotional setback on Friday night, but he was just happy that they could do so without a whole lot of difficulty.
“That was an interesting game for sure,” he said as he walked off the floor and toward the Silverdale dressing room.
“That was a crazy first half with a lot of fouls called, but we got the lead early and were able to hold on, so I’m happy about that. I’m proud of how hard we played. We knew this game was important to get a home game in the next round.
“We had a tough and physical game Friday night, so this was a quick turnaround for us. I’m pleased with the effort as it would have been easy to not play hard, but I’m glad we won again,” he smiled.
Kelcie Johnson scored the first two buckets while teammates Taylor Bledsoe and Kinsley Owen followed with one each as Silverdale grabbed an 8-0 lead at the start.
The Lady Bucs were able to score 10 of the next 14 points to trail by only a pair at 12-10 when the first quarter ended, but they never had the lead as Silverdale did just enough to maintain the upper hand.
Johnson sank a short bank shot with 5:45 left in the second stanza for Silverdale’s biggest lead at 20-13 before the Lady Bucs scored six of the last seven points to only trail by 21-19 at intermission.
With Owen scoring six of her game-high 17 points to start the second half, Silverdale scored 12 of the first 14 points for a 33-21 lead with 3:53 to play and it never got any closer.
Six straight points late in the fourth quarter gave Silverdale its biggest lead of the game at 44-31 following a steal and layup by Owen with 1:26 to play .
The Lady Bucs had an 11-5 edge the rest of the way, but that early lead was simply too much to overcome.
Owen scored 17 points to lead the Lady Seahawks while Johnson followed with 15. Ella Canter and Bledsoe both finished with eight points apiece.
Sarah Peyton Durham was tops for Boyd Buchanan with 11 points while Lesley Durham posted a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds as the Lady Bucs had an unofficial 25-18 edge in rebounds.
Johnson had five rebounds for Silverdale while Owen grabbed four.
Boyd Buchanan is now 17-15 for the season.
CHRISTIAN ACADEMY of Knoxville won the girls championship with a 48-36 win over The King's Academy. The Warriors are now 26-9 win the win while the Lions are now 22-9. It was CAK's third win over the Lions after losing the first time they played.
Boyd Buchanan's Burton and Silverdale's Owen were honored as All-Tournament selections.
BOYD BUCHANAN 10 9 10 13 -- 42
SILVERDALE 12 9 15 13 -- 49
BOYD BUCHANAN (42) – Barlow 6, Proulx 3, Winston 4, Meitzler, Sarah Durham 11, Sanders 6, King 2, Lesley Burton 10.
SILVERDALE (49) – Canter 8, Bledsoe 8, K. Littrell, Raby 1, McFarland, Kinsley Owen 17, Hensley, A. Littrell, Kelsie Johnson 15, Cline.
3-Point Goals: Boyd Buchanan 2 (Durham 2, Proulx); Silverdale 4 (Canter 2, Bledsoe, Johnson).
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)