Silverdale Girls Claim District 5-A Championship

MVP Harkleroad Finishes With 18 Points For Lady Seahawks

  • Wednesday, February 22, 2017
  • Jaime Barrett
The Silverdale girls won the District 6-A championship over CSAS.
The Silverdale girls won the District 6-A championship over CSAS.
photo by Greg Davick

The face and philosophy might have changed, but the expectations for the Silverdale Baptist Academy girls’ basketball team remained the same.


Heading into the season with five seniors and a first-year, first-time head coach in Victor Underwood, the Lady Seahawks had their sights set on winning a District 5-A championship.

Wednesday night, they achieved that goal with a 54-38 victory over tournament host Arts & Sciences.


“As seniors, we had three different middle school coaches, and then had the same high school coach for three years,” Silverdale senior Emily Harkleroad said.  “To get a new coach as seniors, it definitely changed our routine a lot.


“But this year we really put in the hard work in practice, and made sure that in games we always executed to the best of our ability. This was extremely important to us as seniors, because we’ve never won one. We’ve had great seasons but we never were able to finish.”


The Lady Seahawks, the tournament’s No. 1 seed, knew that to finish with a title this year, they would have to focus on slowing down the CSAS scoring duo of Lennex and Lamiah Walker. Lennex had scored 33 points in the Lady Patriots’ semifinal win, with Lamiah contributing 14, and both sisters were named all-tournament after scoring 22 and 12, respectively, in the championship game.


“Our goal was to shut down Lennex, and you can see that didn’t happen tonight,” Underwood said. “She’s just a great player, and we didn’t do a great job in that department, but we were fortunate to not let anyone else hurt us too badly. Other than that, I thought we really executed our gameplan.”


The Lady Seahawks took control in the first quarter, finishing with a 12-3 advantage which they turned into a 23-15 halftime lead. In the third period, Silverdale led by as much as 15, and although CSAS got within 10 points twice, the Lady Patriots could never get the basket they needed to trim the deficit to single digits.


And every time Arts & Sciences looked as if it might be starting a run, Silverdale was there to respond. Several of those key baskets came from Rachel Sanders, who finished with 16 points for the Lady Seahawks.


“When we got in tight spots and they would cut it, she was right there to give us a big bucket when we needed it,” Underwood said of Sanders. “She did a really great job tonight.”


Harkleroad and the team’s four other seniors were in eighth grade the last time the Lady Seahawks claimed the district title, and Underwood said without Harkleroad directing the offense, this year’s title wouldn’t have been possible. She finished with 18 points against CSAS and was named the tournament MVP.


“I think everybody knows that if we didn’t have Emily out there, we’d be a completely different team,” Underwood said. “There’s nobody that plays harder than her when the whistle blows, and I think that was apparent tonight.”


With the win, Silverdale improves to 20-6, and will host District 6-A fourth-place team South Pittsburg in a Region 3-A first-round game on Friday. Arts & Sciences will also host Friday against Lookout Valley, which finished third in the 6-A district.


“This wasn’t our only goal, but it was a big one,” Underwood said. “When I met these seniors, one of the first things they told me was that this was what they wanted to do. I’m really proud of them. All their hard work has come to fruition.


“It’s really been all about the process this year. We haven’t really looked at individual results. These girls have definitely stuck with the process and have just brought it in practice every single day. They’ve done everything I’ve asked them to do. I feel really fortunate to have coached this group in my first year as a head coach.”



(E-mail Jaime Barrett at jaimenbarrett@gmail.com)


District 5-A Girls’ Championship


SILVERDALE BAPTIST 54, ARTS & SCIENCES 38


Arts & Sciences 3  12  11  12  --  38

Silverdale  12  11  17  14  --  54


Arts & Sciences (38) --  Lennex Walker 22, Lamiah 12, Benn 2, Lansden, Crumsey, Randolph, Mayes, Fugh 2, Williams, Justice.

Silverdale (54) --  Carter, White 5, Caldwell 7, Ray 3, Emily Harkleroad 18, Woodard 5, Marcus, Johnson, Patrick, Ervin, Rachel Sanders 16.


3-point goals: Arts & Sciences 6 (Le. Walker 4, La. Walker 2); Silverdale 4 (Harkleroad 2, White, Ray).


All-tournament team: Scout Collins (Copper Basin); Kelsey High, Meredith Balthrop (Boyd-Buchanan); Sheridan Randolph, Lamiah Walker, Lennex Walker (Arts & Sciences); MVP Emily Harkleroad, Katie White, Maddie Caldwell, Rachel Sanders (Silverdale Baptist).


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