By Sara Page, Midlothian Exchange
spage@midlothianexchange.com

Monacan’s Candice Silas was recently named as a nominee for the McDonald’s High School All-American girls basketball team. Thursday night she left no doubt about how she’d earned that honor.

The Chiefs’ leading lady hit 33 points, grabbed 15 rebounds, blocked three shots and stole the ball twice in a 74-44 win over Manchester.

Up 16-12 at the end of the first quarter, Monacan pulled away in the second.

Raven Williams started a six-point run in the second minute with a pair of free throws. Silas stole the inbounds pass and made a quick pass to Katie Keys on the baseline. Keys put up the jumper for a nine-point lead.

In the Chiefs’ defensive end, Leslie Bacile pulled down a rebound and sent a pass ahead to Keys. She drew two defenders on the right post and made a nice bounce pass to an open Williams on the left post.

The Chiefs’ offense got some help from a scrappy defense that stole the ball 19 times and forced 10 turnovers in the game.

“Our defense is always like that,” Silas said. “We always have pressure, it’s always tight, and we just have to pressure everything. That’s what we practice.”

Manchester kept things close in the first quarter. Guard Jessica Clanton put the Lancers on the board early with a steal which she took coast to coast for the layup.

With neither team getting soft fouls called, forward Sydnie Glenn used the opportunity to plow herself a path to the basket. She bulldozed two defenders on the left post for two points, then drew a foul on her next trip to the basket. She drew another foul inside in rebounding action on the Lancers’ next trip down the court and hit both free throws to keep the team within one.

A three-point play by Silas on the other end, kept Monacan in the lead.

Clanton took over for Manchester in the third quarter, hitting 11 of her team-leading 17 points, but Monacan never trailed.

Glenn added 11 points for the Lancers and led in rebounding with 6. Manchester was coming off their third game in as many nights and continues a busy stretch with tough games against district opponents L.C. Bird, George Wythe and Cosby next week.

The Chiefs resembled a hockey team, trading lines on the fly and putting 10 players in the rebounding and scoring action. To Silas’ totals, Rebecca Deichman added 11 points to help lead Monacan. Monacan also starts a second jaunt through the district and has their final big test of the season on Feb. 9 at Cosby.

“Tonight was the first game of our long stretch to the district tournament; so I’d say today’s the first step, and hopefully we continue it,” Silas said.