By Samantha Bonifas
The Silver Lake Lady Mustangs traveled to Axtell for an intense game on December 7th. The Lady Mustangs and the Wildcats both play a similar type of basketball which revolves around a fast pace and a defense full of pressure. The game started out rough for the Mustangs. Axtell jumped to a 20-12 lead in the first quarter. The Wildcats continued their run in the first half and went to the locker room with a 35-20 lead. Silver Lake did not let the lead affect their game. The Mustangs held on to the fight for the second half. Senior Katelyn Karr said the score became unimportant to her in the game. “We were all mentally in the game. We did not think about giving up. At half time, I knew I couldn’t let the score affect me. I knew as a team that we had it in us to come back.” Silver Lake did just that and started working piece by piece to outscore Axtell 13-9 in the third quarter. The fourth quarter started with the Mustangs trailing 11 points. The seniors of the time led the Mustangs to score 23 points in the fourth quarter and defeat the Wildcats 56-50. Karr led the team with 17 points. Senior Amanda Ehrman also contributed 16. Karr commented, “For us it’s all mental toughness. We have gained a bunch of confidence to be able to do this. It felt good knowing that we had it in us to fight back.”
The Lady Mustangs ended the week with a win against Elba to improve a 4-0 record. The Mustang press was no match for the Bluejays. Silver Lake took a 48-6 lead at halftime. The Lady Mustangs found scoring offense from 10 different players throughout the game. Freshman Katie Soucek led the team with 14 points and 7 rebounds. Junior Georgi tenBensel added another 7 rebounds. The Mustangs were able to finish strong and take the win with a score of 66-12.