Bledsoe's 26 Leads Silverdale Past Collegedale

Action Comes In Silverdale Thanksgiving Classic On Wednesday

  • Wednesday, November 23, 2022
  • John Hunt

Coach Victor Underwood isn’t a big fan of playing basketball games early in the day, but he didn’t have much of a choice on Wednesday.

Playing the first game of the day at the Silverdale Thanksgiving Classic, Underwood’s Silverdale girls certainly didn’t play their best game, but they did what was needed to win as they pulled away from the Collegedale Academy Lady Eagles late to even their record with a 58-44 victory.

“I don’t think we’re very good at these early-morning games, but we had a tough game with Walker Valley last night and that might have something to do with it,” Underwood said after his team had improved to 3-3.

“I’m sure that we could have played better, but we did what we had to do to win.  We’ll take a win, no matter what it looks like.  We had some kids playing different roles today and I feel like we took a step backward, but games like this give our kids more experience and helps us later when we get into post-season tournaments,” Underwood added.

Collegedale coach David White only had seven girls available to play on Wednesday, but he liked what he saw, despite his team’s fifth loss in six games.

“Silverdale is always well coached and well prepared and that’s where we want our program to be one day,” White began.

“We fought hard the entire game and I’m happy about that, but it’s a learning experience and we just continue to get better.  I’m pleased with the fight, but they are the team that we want to be,” he nodded.

Silverdale’s leading scorer Kelsie Johnson missed Wednesday’s game as she was getting her wisdom teeth pulled, but Taylor Bledsoe stepped up and scored 26 points to lead the Lady Seahawks.

A 6-0 Silverdale lead at the start turned into an 8-8 tie following a shot in the lane by Collegedale’s Harley Herman with 2:37 left in the opening stanza before free throws by Braylee Raby and Kennedy Stinson put Silverdale ahead 10-8 at the first break.

A 3 by Claire Fisher put the Lady Eagles up 11-10 to start the second quarter and a short baseline jumper by Sydney Hayes put Collegedale ahead by 23-21 with 2:02 left in the half.

Bledsoe took over at that point and scored the final seven points to put Silverdale ahead 28-23 at intermission.

Aliya Trott sank two free throws in the first minute of the third quarter to get Collegedale within three points at 28-25, but Silverdale responded with six straight points for a 34-25 lead midway through the third and it never got any closer.

Raby scored on a putback just ahead of the buzzer to give Silverdale its biggest lead at 45-31 with one quarter remaining.

Neither team had the advantage in the final quarter as both teams scored 13 points during that stretch, Collegedale’s Hayes bagging a 3 from the corner in the final minute for the final 14-point spread.

While Bledsoe led Silverdale’s scoring effort, Kinsley Owens was also in double figures with 13 points.  Raby was next with nine.

Hayes and Herman were tops for Collegedale with 10 points apiece.  Lena Moody was next with nine.

Collegedale had an unofficial 30-27 advantage in rebounds.  Trott had seven to lead the Eagles while Herman and Hayes both snagged five.

Bledsoe had nine rebounds to lead Silverdale while Raby had five.

COLLEGEDALE  8  15  8  13  --  44

SILVERDALE  10  18  17  13  --  58

COLLEGEDALE (44) – Fisher 5, Sydney Hayes 10, Harley Herman 10, Williams-Marlow 2, Kaufman 2, Moody 9, Trott 6.

SILVERDALE (58) – Owen, Canter, Taylor Bledsoe 26, Raby 9, Rogers, Kinsley Owen 13, Woods 4, Stinson 5, Gibson 1, Cline.

3-POINT GOALS: Collegedale 4 (Fisher, Hayes, Herman,  Moody); Silverdale 6 (Bledsoe 4, Owen, Stinson).

(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)

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