After five scoreless minutes of play from his Black Knights, things certainly didn’t look pretty. But Silver Creek finished the opening quarter with seven straight points to take the lead into the first intermission, then carried that lead into halftime.

Then, in the second half, the season-opening jitters were ousted and the Black Knights began to roll.

Behind a 31-6 second half, the Silver Creek Black Knights tipped off the girls basketball season with a 42-12 win over the Dunkirk Marauders on Tuesday night in a nonleague matchup at Silver Creek High School.

Following a postponement of the matchup originally set for the previous night due to a snow day for both schools, the Marauders took the short trip up Route 5 to open the season at Silver Creek. Early on, neither team found much footing, but Dunkirk (0-1) held the game’s first lead behind three early points from Ashley Collazo.

Silver Creek’s Khloe Karnes, left, gathers for a fast-break layup attempt as Dunkirk’s Brooke Szymczak defends during a nonleague girls basketball game on Tuesday night at Silver Creek High School. P-J photo by Braden Carmen

“I thought we were doing really well with rebounding on defense. We were getting the ball almost every time, we just have to convert that into offense,” Dunkirk head coach Quinn Bankoski said.

Silver Creek (1-0) responded with Maddy Blair converting three out of four free throws in the game’s sixth minute to even the score. Then in the final 90 seconds of the opening quarter, Gianna Grabias converted a pair of layups for Silver Creek’s first lead.

Rice said early on, he did not feel his team was confident in its shooting abilities. As the game went on, Silver Creek found its rhythm and the hot hand became contagious.

“Just like missing seems to be infectious, if somebody steps up and hits a couple, somebody else will follow — and it happened,” Rice said.

They didn’t know it at the time, but after gaining the lead, the Black Knights would not trail again the rest of the night. Any doubt was put to rest in the second half as Silver Creek ran away with the third quarter with a 17-6 advantage in the period. Things continued to snowball from there, as the Black Knights blanked Dunkirk in the fourth quarter, 14-0, including a 9-0 run in the first 3:30 of the fourth quarter to put the game completely out of reach.

“Our energy level was great throughout the game. Even in the first half when it’s not going in the bucket, it’s really easy to not play tough defense after a while, it’s really easy to hang your head and start pointing your finger, we didn’t have any of that,” Rice said.

The Black Knights were led by Gracie Williams with 12 points and nine steals, Gracelin Stevens with 9 points and seven rebounds, and Khloe Karnes with 10 points and five steals.

“Good shooting exists on this team,” Rice said. “It’s getting enough of them to step up and have the confidence to knock some down. That will grow this year.”

The Marauders were led by Ashley Collazo with 7 points and nine rebounds, while Ema Pacheco added 5 points and four rebounds. Collazo battled foul trouble in the second half, which Bankoski said significantly impacted Dunkirk’s offense.

“They gave effort the whole time. I was very proud of them,” Bankoski said. ” … We have some younger girls that have a lot of learning to do, but they are willing, they are open and they are ready to learn. They gave effort the whole time and that’s all that I can ask.”

Up next, the Marauders take on the Forestville Hornets tonight at 6 p.m. at Forestville High School. The Black Knights are back in action next Tuesday when they host Brocton.

DUNKIRK (12)

Pacheco 2 0 5, Orsini 0 0 0, Morales 0 0 0, Cole 0 0 0, Szymczak 0 0 0, Collazo 3 1 7, Munson 0 0 0, Benjamin 0 0 0, Tramuto 0 0 0. Totals 5 1 12.

SILVER CREEK (42)

Karnes 4 2 10, Blair 1 3 6, Grabias 2 0 4, Warrior 0 0 0, Williams 5 0 12, Azzarella 0 1 1, Stevens 4 0 9, Kelly 0 0 0, Hanner 0 0 0. Totals 16 6 42.

3-point goals–Pacheco, Blair, Williams 2, Stevens.

Dunkirk 3 3 6 0 — 12

Silver Creek 7 4 17 14 — 42