Silliman Institute picked up a pair of wins Monday at Adams County Christian School, but it was anything but easy.

The top-rated Lady Wildcats defeated the Lady Rebels 47-42, the third time Silliman (15-0) has defeated AC (8-4) this year. The Lady Rebels’ only other loss was to Brookhaven.

Silliman’s boys trailed AC 33-29 late in the third quarter before pulling away with a 58-45 win.

AC’s girls trailed Silliman 9-6 after one period of play and 23-17 at halftime.

&uot;We missed five layups in the first quarter,&uot; said AC&160;head coach Bruce Pickle.

Silliman led 34-27 after three quarters.

Despite the closeness of the contest, Pickle was not happy with his team’s play. One important reason was the fact Silliman was without its two 5-foot-10 players.

Highly-sought after post player Riley Kennedy, who is averaging close to 20 points, was looking at a college, while teammate Jessie Pennington sat out with an injury.

&uot;That was the worst we’ve played this year,&uot; Pickle said. &uot;I just don’t think we were mentally ready. It may have been a letdown because their top two girls were not there, but we didn’t step it up. We have to do a better job of rebounding. And we turned it over against their press too many times.&uot;

Lindsey Kelly led Silliman with 16 points, while Jill Kennedy and Kaylan Kline added 12 each.

Laurie Davis paced AC with eight points.

In the boys contest, AC&160;led 12-9 after one period of play as Ty Smith hit a basket with nine seconds showing on the clock.

Silliman battled back to take a 23-22 halftime lead.

Hayden Wadsworth gave AC a 31-29 lead midway through the third period and Ryan Davis made it 33-29 with a basket.

But three straight AC&160;turnovers turned into three straight baskets for Silliman, two by Todd Phenald, and the Wildcats led 38-33 going into the final quarter.

&uot;We got fatigued and that’s when the mistakes came in,&uot; said AC head coach Paul Hayles

Phenald led an early Wildcat rally that pushed the Silliman lead to 47-39 before two technical fouls on AC pushed that margin to 51-39.

Phenald led Silliman, 7-5, with 22 points, while Evans Scrogges added 11. AC, 1-3, was led by Smith with 18 and Wadsworth with 12.

&uot;Everybody played hard,&uot; Hayles said. &uot;We’re getting to where we need to be.&uot;

AC hosts Huntington today.