Silver Creek’s Abby Rice, center, was surrounded by her parents Kevin Rice, left, and Tammy Rice as she signed her letter of intent to officially commit to Franklin Pierce University to play Division II basketball on an athletic scholarship. P-J photo by Christian Storms

SILVER CREEK — For Silver Creek’s Abby Rice there was no question of whether she would be playing at the next level, it was just a question of where she would be playing.

Rice answered that question on Monday when she signed her letter of intent to attend Franklin Pierce University.

Rice will be playing women’s basketball on a full athletic scholarship and will be competing at the NCAA Division II level in the Northeast-10 Conference.

“The coaching staff for sure,” Rice said about what led to her choosing Franklin Pierce University. “After I met them I knew that was the right place. And it’s a small school, I come from a small school and I really wouldn’t want to go to a big school.”

Silver Creek basketball’s all time leading scorer will find herself in a familiar role at the college level. Rice will play shooting guard which brings an expectation of scoring, something Rice is not a stranger to.

“They said they like my basketball IQ,” Rice said about what drew the Franklin Pierce Raiders to her. “They liked my ability to see the floor. I think they’re bringing me in to be a shooting guard, but they really liked my IQ.”

With still her senior year to play, Rice has already crafted quite the resume. She is currently the school’s all-time scorer for both boys and girls with 1,749 points, the girls leader in career assists with 462, the girls leader in career made 3-pointers with 266 and the girls leader with 3-pointers in a season with 62. Rice also finds herself at No. 7 in all-time scoring for Chautauqua County girls basketball and is No. 15 in Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Athletic Association scoring with plans to move up the list this year.

Rice mentioned that she was glad to sign before he senior season began so that she now can focus on the season without worrying about anything else.

“The pressure is for sure taken off,” Rice said about signing before the season. “It allows me to just grow as a player more and not have to worry about all of the pressure if I wasn’t signed yet.”

All of the achievements and records Rice sets are not just by her natural ability, she has worked extremely hard to become the great player that she is.

“She kind of serves as a good example of how much extra you need to put into a sport that you play in order to prepare yourself for the next level,” Abby’s mother and Silver Creek head coach Tammy Rice stated about her dedication to basketball. “She trains all year long, training doesn’t stop when basketball ends. Abby is a great example of putting in all the extra time it takes to move to the next level. Often times that comes with saying no to going to the beach or to the movies with friends and I know those are things she would enjoy. But those are sacrifices she chooses to make and I’m proud of her for making the right decisions.”

Getting to where Abby has cannot be done alone and she credits the many people who have helped her along the way of achieving her goal.

“I’d like to thank my parents for all they’ve sacrificed,” Rice stated. “I also thank everyone who has coached me to where I am today, my trainer Darren Fenn because I wouldn’t be the player I am today without him and my teammates for helping me grow as a player.”