By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Silver Lake's girls bounced back from Friday's semifinal loss with a 53-51 win over Nickerson in Saturday's third-place game of the Class 3A state tournament.
The Eagles, who finished the season 24-2, trailed 36-31 at the end of the third quarter, but outscored Nickerson 22-15 over the final eight minutes to pull out the victory at the Hutchinson Sports Arena.
Silver Lake held a 15-9 lead at the end of the first quarter, but Nickerson (23-3) used an 18-7 second quarter to take a 27-22 halftime advantage.
The Eagles outscored Nickerson 31-24 in the second half.
Sophomore Kaibryn Kruger led Silver Lake with 14 points while hitting 4 of 7 3-point attempts while sophomore Makenzie McDaniel added 12 points and junior Taylor Ross 10.
Ava Jones, a 6-foot-2 junior, scored 26 points and grabbed 19 rebounds for Nickerson.
SILVER LAKE GIRLS 53, NICKERSON 51
Nickerson 9 18 9 15 -- 51
Silver Lake 15 7 9 22 -- 53
Nickerson (23-3) -- Allen 0-3 0-0 0, McLean 1-8 2-2 5, A. Ontjes 0-0 0-0 0, K. Ontjes 4-9 0-1 10, Ponds 1-4 0-1 2, Abernathy 4-4 0-0 8, Jones 10-21 5-8 26. Totals 20-49 7-12 51.
Silver Lake (24-2) -- Wehrli 0-0 0-0 0, Farmer 2-6 0-2 5, Deiter 1-3 2-2 5, McDaniel 5-10 2-2 12, K. Kruger 5-10 0-2 14, M. Kruger 2-12 3-8 7, Bolan 0-0 0-0 0, Ross 3-6 4-5 10. Totals 18-47 11-21 53.
3-point goals -- . Nickerson 4 (K. Ontjes 2, McLean, Jones), Silver Lake 6 (K. Kruger 4, Farmer, Deiter). Total fouls -- Nickerson 17, Silver Lake 15. Fouled out – none. Technical fouls -- none.
