Silverdale Baptist Academy’s Mariah Massengill shoots a three-pointer Thursday against CSAS.Coming into the District 5-A high school girls’ basketball game Thursday at Arts & Sciences, Silverdale Baptist Academy’s girls knew they were two victories over the arch nemesis away from earning the No. 1 seeding in the district tournament.
One down; one to go.
The Lady Seahawks never trailed but didn’t pull away until the second half when they built a 17-point lead on the way to defeating the Lady Patriots 62-53, setting the stage for a rematch tonight at Silverdale on senior night.
Silverdale (14-8, 5-0) and CSAS (9-13, 5-2) have shared the regular-season championship each of the last two years with the Lady Patriots ending up top-seeded in the tournament both times. If the Lady Seahawks win tonight — or one of their games Monday or Tuesday against Copper Basin — they would capture the first outright district regular-season title in the program’s seven-year history.
“Not just for me, but me and my teammates set a goal at the first of the year to not only come in first in the district but to win the tournament,” said Eastern Kentucky-bound point guard Mariah Massengill, who paced Silverdale with 26 points Thursday. “We have a lot of big expectations. We want to keep putting on the gas. We’ve come in second way too many years. This is our year.”