Notre Dame Girls Down Silverdale To Take DII-A East District 2 Crown

Boyd Buchanan Thumps Collegedale For Consolation Win

Saturday, February 15, 2025
Joy Fisk

Notre Dame celebrates their DII-A East Region District 2 championship over Silverdale. The Lady Irish defeated the Lady Seahawks, 46-39.
photo by Joy Fisk

For much of Friday night's girls' DII-A East Region District 2 title game, it looked like Silverdale could potentially challenge rival Notre Dame for the championship despite having lost to them twice this season, but at the final buzzer, Notre Dame took home the first place finish, scoring 46 points to Silverdale's 39. Silverdale started out strong, ahead by 2 points at the end of the first quarter and only down three points at the half, but some key misses by Silverdale gave the Lady Irish the opportunity they needed to show they deserved the title of district champions.

Three of the Fighting Irish scored at least ten points in the game, compared to only two high scorers from the Lady Seahawks' Kinsley Owen, the Silverdale sophomore who often racks up at least twenty points in a game, showed some visible frustration when some of her shots didn’t hit, but she was still the high scorer for the night at 15 points, and she took home the title of regular season MVP. The surprise of the night was the Silverdale’s Sloane Colter, an eighth grader who successfully landed four baskets from beyond the arc.

Considering the reasons for their win, Notre Dame head coach Jason Hill reflected, “I think they stuck together because we built the lead a couple of times…and we lost it, built the lead and we lost it, and I think that goes with our season because we’ve had a lot of adversity, we’ve not started well, we’ve not shot well but we know that we’ve got a deep team…I think they rallied around each other. We kept putting different girls in there. We kept finding a way to get stops, convert, try and build the lead back up and hang on at the end because we knew Silverdale was coming.”

Giving his take on the game, Silverdale head coach Victor Underwood said, “We gave a few offensive rebounds in the second half and they were able to convert on that- that hurt us. And we just didn’t finish around the basket the way we needed to to win tonight. I think we shot about 28% from the floor tonight- not great.” He was optimistic about his team’s future despite the loss. “It’s about development. This is a young team still. We’ve gotten better and better throughout the year, we took a step backwards in some ways tonight, but growth is never linear. We just have to learn from it and bounce back.”

Notre Dame senior Maliyah Maples was enthusiastic about the reasons for their win, saying “We’re a team with so much depth. We’re a team that is very well coached. We have so many layers to our team. You think about scouting us- I just think it’s a nightmare for other teams. We have so much, so many girls, it’s “next girl up” mentality, and we really play hard for each other and we play hard for our coaches. This team is very special and we know that. We know how unique of a team this is and I think we play like it when it matters, and when it comes down to it, we’re gonna fight for each other every time.”

Maples said that the win means “everything” to her team. “As a senior, I don’t get another do over at any of this, so I want to make everything count. I want to win as much as I can, I want to win as dominantly as we can. Being out last year, not being able to play my junior year, coming back this senior year, I wanted to make sure I didn’t have any regrets. So winning this is just another step to having no regrets, and going out with an amazing team, and a team that I’m going to do it all for- I’m gonna lay it all out there for them every time.”

Coach Hill also talked about the “next girl up” mentality of his team, saying “We’re extremely happy…Long hard road this year, started back in the summer- these girls had a goal to get back in here and win the championship. We fell short last year and now onto the next mission- we’re trying to get to the state tournament- so we’ve got a big game coming up this week. We’ll try and accomplish that goal as well. I think that these girls are dedicated to the game. They love each other. You can tell on the court that they love playing together. They love each other off the court as well. I think it goes to show when they’re playing that we’re unselfish… next girl up mentality. So I couldn’t be happier for them.”

BOYD BUCHANAN 58, COLLEGEDALE 16: The girls consolation game was not as close, with the Lady Bucs easily overtaking Collegedale 58 to 16 to claim the district's number three seed heading into the region tournament. The region tournament begins next week.

Girls Championship Game: