Her twin sister Mia suffered her own injury during the game and was limited all night long.

Plenty of other Panthers stepped up in their absence.

Sophomore Lilly Bentley scored 16 points, grabbed six rebounds and blocked three shots while sophomore Jackie Scanlon had 13 points and four steals as No. 2 Portville beat the sixth-seeded Black Knights 53-45.

“Mallory tweaked her knee a couple of days ago and I just felt it was probably better if we could get by without her,” Portville head coach Inga Welty said. “Everybody stepped up. The sophomores stepped up.”

Silver Creek’s Jade Bouvier attempts a shot over Portville’s Lilly Bentley during Thursday’s Section VI Class C1 semifinal at Jamestown Community College’s Athletic Complex. OBSERVER Photo by Matt Spielman

Now, for the third time this season, the Panthers will take on No. 4 Falconer, which beat No. 1 Wilson 45-30 in Thursday’s first semifinal. Portville swept the Golden Falcons during the regular season, 54-45 on Jan. 21 and 45-42 on Feb. 10.

The loss ends a record-breaking career for Silver Creek senior Abby Rice, who finished with 16 points, eight rebounds, six steals and four blocked shots. Rice, who became Chautauqua County’s all-time leading scorer earlier this season, ends with 2,232 points and more than 1,100 rebounds.

“This was an emotional day. We were happy to get back to JCC to play Portville,” said Silver Creek head coach Tammy Rice, Abby’s mother. “We did a lot of work to get here. I was well aware of that when we walked in and really tried to appreciate everything about being at JCC, not so much what the end result was going to be.”

The Panthers led 15-6 after one quarter Thursday thanks in large part to 3-pointers from junior Teagan Kosinski and Scanlon as well as 5 points from Bentley.

“She earned hers because she was rebounding,” Coach Welty said of Bentley. “We did a poor job of getting her touches like she should be getting.”

Rice, who had a basket and a free throw in the opening eight minutes, kept the Black Knights close in the second quarter. After falling behind 19-6, Rice hit back-to-back 3-pointers and later hit a pair of free throws. Another Rice 3-pointer pulled Silver Creek within five, but Scanlon banked in a 3-pointer to slow the momentum.

Senior Malani Eldridge scored just before halftime for Silver Creek to make it a six-point game at the break.

“We’ve talked all season about other girls contributing. I think she looks to play that way,” Coach Rice said of Abby. “At times, I wish she was a little bit more assertive, but at the same time I respect how she wants the game to be played.”

Portville took over in the third quarter. Black Knights junior Maidre Arenas answered a three-point play from Bentley with a 3-pointer of her own, but the Panthers then rattled off a 14-2 run that included 3-pointers from Mia Welty and Scanlon.

“Jackie hitting those 3s is going to go a long ways for her confidence,” Coach Welty said. “She’s only a sophomore and she was put in a pressure situation, which was good for her.”

By the time Rice scored her first second-half bucket with 1:20 left in the third quarter, Portville’s lead was 16.

“Ava (Haynes) got two quick fouls and she got too nervous to play defense the way she’s capable of,” Coach Welty said. “At halftime we talked about denying (Abby) and she only had 2 points in the second half.”

The Panthers took a 21-point lead into the final eight minutes where they began to rest their regular rotation players in anticipation of Saturday’s rematch with Falconer.

“They outplayed us the second time,” Coach Welty said of the Golden Falcons. “Mia had 13 straight points and that just kind of put it away, but they played harder than we did.”

NOTES: Arenas had 11 points while senior Jade Bouvier had 9 points, four rebounds and three assists for Silver Creek, which shot 17 of 54 (31.5%) from the field, including 5 of 21 (23.8%) from 3-point range, and turned the all over 15 times. … Sophomore Ava Haynes had 8 points and 13 rebounds while Kosinski had four assists for Portville, which shot 18 of 44 (40.1%) from the field, including 7 of 16 (43.8%) from 3-point range. The Panthers turned the ball over 30 times, but 18 came in the fourth quarter.

SILVER CREEK (45)

Eldridge 3 0 6, Arenas 5 0 11, Karcz 1 0 2, Martinez 0 1 1, Bouvier 3 2 9, Rice 5 3 16, Jimerson 0 0 0, Lawton 0 0 0, Braidich 0 0 0. Totals 17 6 45.

PORTVILLE (53)

Kosinski 2 0 6, Lyle 0 0 0, MiWelty 1 1 4, Scanlon 4 1 13, Haynes 4 0 8, Artlip 0 0 0, Fries 0 0 0, Dickerson 0 0 0, Maurer 1 1 3, Sickels 1 1 3, Bentley 5 6 16. Totals 18 10 53.

3-point goals–Arenas, Bouvier, Rice 3, Kosinski 2, MiWelty, Scanlon 4.

Silver Creek 6 13 7 19 — 45

Portville 15 10 22 6 — 53