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Silver Creek earns 47-43 win over Holland

Black Knights back on track

OBSERVER Photo by Braden Carmen Silver Creek’s Jaeleigh Cruz dribbles the ball up-court during Tuesday’s game in Silver Creek.

SILVER CREEK — After starting the season 8-1, Silver Creek came into Tuesday with two straight losses. They trailed by two points in the first quarter on Tuesday, and fell behind by six points with the first half winding down. Yet, with all that was surrounding the girls on the hardwood in Silver Creek on Tuesday, Abby Rice managed to grin ear to ear.

After a pull-up 3-pointer by Rice banked off the glass and in during the fourth quarter, the Black Knights led by eight and held on the rest of the way for a 47-43 win over Holland in non-league girls basketball action at Silver Creek High School on Tuesday night.

“I was yelling at her at the time to take it in for the layup — and then it went in,” said Silver Creek head coach Tammy Rice, Abby’s mother. “At that point, you just take it. She was confident to shoot it and it went in.”

Abby Rice, who led Silver Creek with 22 points and 10 rebounds, never lost confidence — despite plenty of reasons to worry early on.

Silver Creek (9-3) trailed by six points with just over a minute left in the first quarter, but finished the opening frame with four straight points to cut the deficit to just two. Then, after Silver Creek tied the score at 15 in the second quarter, Holland (8-6) scored six straight points to jump right back ahead by six, with less than three minutes remaining in the first half. Just like the first quarter, though, Silver Creek answered — with seven of the next nine points — to cut the deficit to just one point, 23-22, at halftime.

OBSERVER Photo by Braden Carmen Silver Creek’s Abby Rice (23) looks to pass during the Black Knights’ 47-43 win over Holland on Tuesday at Silver Creek High School.

The Black Knights seemed to finally figure it all out at the end of the first half, and because of that, Coach Rice decided to keep the same five players on the court to start the second half. It clearly paid off, as the Black Knights scored six straight out of the break to grab a five point lead.

“That last subbing rotation I made, they all collectively clicked together,” said Coach Rice. “So we walked off the court at halftime with that lineup and we started the third quarter with that lineup. I think it made a big difference. … I just went with it as long as it worked.”

Halfway through the third quarter, Silver Creek led 30-23, with a stretch of 15-2 in favor of the Black Knights from the few minutes of the first half to the middle of the third quarter.

Holland wouldn’t quite go away that easily, however. A big reason why was their own freshman standout, Claire Pikett — who just so happens to be AAU teammates with Abby Rice on XGEN, coached by Tammy Rice.

“Claire Pikett is a great player,” said Coach Rice. “We had a hard time stopping her. She is great in the lane, has long strides, and there were times where she got around three of us and was just finishing beautiful shots at the rim.”

Pikett finished with 21 points to lead Holland on the night. Mary Ptak added 18 points for Holland.

Early on, Pikett and her teammates made it difficult for Silver Creek to get the ball down low offensively. Once the Black Knights solved that issue, Kiera Brennan began to thrive for Silver Creek, adding 14 points to support Abby Rice on the offensive end.

“In the beginning, I told the girls ‘I know what you’re seeing, but what you don’t see is Claire Pikett one step in front of that pass’,” said Coach Rice. “Every time they tried to force it, Claire was picking it off, so we really worked on moving the ball away from Claire’s side, then penetrating a little bit deeper and then making that pass to Kiera. It worked when we were patient.”

Holland had a scoring run of 8-2 near the end of the third quarter to cut the Silver Creek lead down to just one point, but Abby Rice bumped it back up to three after a layup off a turnover. After three, the Black Knights led 34-31.

“We are still working on being patient with the lead, and that’s a tough mindset to teach,” said Coach Rice.

The home team couldn’t relax until Abby Rice’s 3-pointer banked in off the glass, through the chaos of a loose ball and players down on the court battling for it. Still, the Silver Creek freshman standout drilled the shot to put Silver Creek ahead by nine and the Black Knights did not give the lead away over the final five minutes.

“It was big for her,” said Coach Rice of Abby’s confidence through the team’s adversity. “She faces a lot of defensive pressure when we see teams, and she’s still very young. … She has to fight through adversity, and I thought she handled it better (Tuesday).”

Silver Creek had one final highlight play in store on Tuesday night, as Jaeleigh Cruz came up with a steal in the paint and dropped a no-look pass that resulted in an easy lay-up. Both Coach Tammy Rice and Assistant Coach Kevin Rice called it “the pass of her career.”

After the recent reality check for Silver Creek, Tuesday’s win was a crucial rebound for the Black Knights. They now look to continue their winning ways in league action, on Friday, at Randolph.

“Just as much as I tell the girls they need to collect themselves and gain composure, I struggle with that sometimes as a coach,” said Coach Rice. “In moments when it’s chaotic, it’s easy to not see what you need to do. I know that we’ve worked on that as a team. … (Tuesday) they collected themselves just enough to finish with the win.”

Twitter: @bradencarmen

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