EDWARDSVILLE – One thing about Edwardsville's girls basketball team is simple. The Tigers don't have to rely on any certain player to be successful.
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They have many weapons they can use to overcome whatever game plan a team may have for them.
One example: senior Makenzie Silvey and junior Kate Martin. The duo combined for 32 ponts – Silvey 18 and Martin 14 – as the Tigers opened their home and Southwestern Conference schedules with a 64-27 win over Collinsville at Lucco-Jackson Gym Thursday night, running the Tiger record to 5-0 overall and 1-0 in the SWC; Collinsville fell to 3-2 overall, 0-1 in the league.
“Kate got some (points) there, which is good to see because she had her hands full defensively,” said Tiger coach Lori Blade. “It's always good to see Kate get her points because that concerns me about taking it away from her. With this group, you never know on any night; tonight, it was Makenzie and Kate, but any other night, you never know. That's the good part.
“(Martin) did a great job (defending against the Kahoks' Kaitlyn Fischer; she was held to a team-high five points). She had a lot of help; I thought Jasmine's (Bishop) help on double-screens was really good, but we read them well most of the time.
“She's a tough kid to guard and it took a team effort, but Kate did a great job by herself too. I was really proud of their effort (defensively) because that's going to be a difference-maker for us at some time.”
Edwardsville wasted no time getting out of the blocks quickly, getting to a 17-6 lead at quarter time and and pulling to a 31-11 lead at the long break, never allowing the Kahoks to make a serious run at them.
Rachel Pranger and Jaylen Townsend each had eight points for the Tigers on the night, with Myriah Noodel-Haywood pulling down eight rebounds, Martin five and Pranger and Townsend four each. The Kahoks got four points each from Antoinette Buehne, Mckenzie Manley and Andrea Frerker; Fischer led in rebounding with five, with Buehne, Danielle Knutson and Claire Schuessler each getting two.
The Tigers are at Belleville East Tuesday night, then host Belleville West Dec. 8 and Normal Community in an afternoon game Dec. 10.
