Girls basketball: Maine East’s Silva nets 2,000th point in win over Maine West

Maine East girls basketball coach Lance Newman said the Blue Demons came to Des Plaines on Monday ready for a celebration of their star player Bella Silva.

“The parents brought a banner,” Newman said, referring to Silva reaching 2,000 points for her career in Park Ridge.

They also brought a crown, which was placed upon Silva's head following her team's 56-49 victory over Maine West in which the ever-so-skilled guard became the first player in program history to reach the milestone by scoring a game-high 38 points.

Now she'll try to become the queen of Maine Township High School District 207, which includes Maine South and Maine West high schools. Silva has 2018 points, trailing only Maine West's Brittany Collins' 2,055 for the district record.

Collins finished her four-year career in 2014, when Silva was only 4 years old.

“And she's (Silva) only a junior,” longtime Maine West public address announcer Tommy Sochowski informed the cheering crowd when her teammates raced onto the floor to congratulate Silva following a timeout after she had gone over 2,000 points with a beautiful behind the back dribble to get around her defender just outside the free throw line and drive in for a layup. The basket gave her team a 37-19 lead with 4:16 left in the third period.

That 18-point cushion was East's biggest in the Central Suburban North game as West used a 14-0 run to get back to within 41-38 with 6:28 left in the fourth period.

But Silva continued to be a problem for West to solve. She scored 17 of her team's 18 points in the final quarter to get the Blue Demons to 14-13 and 4-5 in the conference.

“Everyone has been focusing on Bella,” Newman said. “Everyone's been focusing on her. She's still been able to excel but our other girls are starting to step up, too.”

Marie Matsumoto had 7 points and Heidi Cortez added 6.

Silva helped stake the Blue Demons to an 8-3 lead, hitting a 3-pointer and 2 free throws in the first three minutes. A free throw by Oyi Olurotimi made it 9-3 before Silva hit from long distance again to make it 12-3 with 1:17 left.

After a 3-pointer by West senior Mariana Espinoza, Cortez hit her second 3-pointer of the period for a 15-6 lead heading into the second quarter.

“I think it helps that I've been getting more in a flow, especially with my teammates setting screens,” Silva said. “They help me get open a lot of times.

“I thought maybe I could get to this (2,000) but maybe in my senior year, not my junior year. I like when I can draw defenders toward me because then that helps my teammates get wide-open shots and boosts their confidence, too,”

A coast-to-coast layup by Silva with 2:40 left in the half gave East a 27-11 lead before freshman Dayliana Rodriguez went strong to the basket for a layup and Ava Roback converted a free throw to make it 27-14 at intermission.

Kaitlyn Nutley and Roback each had 13 points for West (12-12, 5-4) while Rodriguez chipped in 12. “We definitely wish we could have that first half,” said Warriors Deanna Tuttle. “But credit Maine East. Bella obviously is a phenomenal player. Congrats to her for 2,000 points. That's incredible.

“Our game plan was to try and stop her and that's hard to do. We did not do it and on top of that, their other girls hit some big shots and definitely stepped up big time.”

Silva became the program's all-time leading scorer on Dec. 4, surpassing the previous record of 1,369 points held by Caya Apostolou.

“Two thousand points is more than I ever scored,” said Tuttle (nee Kuzmanic), who scored 1,736 at Wheeling and 1,536 at Alabama-Birmingham. “So as a player I knew it would cause some frustration trying to guard her. As a coach you're up at night kind of making game plans on what you're going to do. Obviously our first half game plan didn't work too well. In the second half we were able to slow her down a little bit. She's a great player and she's going to score against whatever defense you throw at her. Just kudos to her and it will be exciting to watch her at the next level wherever she ends up playing.”

Newman likes how his team is improving.

“This team has come a long way”: said Neman, who was an assistant coach at Maine West in 2019 when it won the Class 4A state record with a 35-0 record. “We've been playing some really good basketball lately. The girls have been playing hard. We lost to a lot of teams early in the season who we've come back and beat, so they've been focused and determined to win.”

With Silva leading the way, the Blue Demons' offense is always capable.

“Bella is moving up the ranks,” Newman said. “We know what teams are going to do to her, especially in the conference. They're going to box-and-one or focus at least two girls on her. So we have somewhat of a scheme to try and get her open. And a lot of times we say, even if she is one-on-two, keep going. She's that good of a ballplayer.”