Cape girls’ basketball finishes regular season with win over Laurel
The Cape Henlopen girls’ basketball team celebrated the Class of 2018 before posting a 59-50 win over Laurel in its regular-season finale.
Senior Sydney Pedersen and sophomore Dania Cannon each hit for 18 points. Pedersen made four three-pointers, while Cannon knocked down two from beyond the arc.
Laurel junior guard Logan Handy led with 17 points and kept the game close. Laurel pulled to within six points in the fourth period.
“We missed some layups tonight,” Pedersen said. “That hurt us on the scoreboard.”
The senior sharpshooter who averaged 12.5 points per game this season also reflected on her years at Cape.
“It was a good four years for me,” she said. “I think we showed that we are not just any ordinary downstate team and that we can get out of any situation, and as long as we play together, we can win.”
“It wasn’t a pretty game,” said senior forward Mel McCloy, who is bound for Princeton University this fall. “It also wasn’t the most dramatic ending for our Senior Night, but we did what we had to do and we won, and that’s what is important.
“This season has been a learning experience for me and the whole team. We have had our difficulties along the way, but I think we’ve all learned a lot, and I think the team next year is going to come back stronger than ever. And hopefully they’ll learn from the lessons that we learned this year. I look forward to coming back and seeing them.”
“Everything is a little bittersweet,” said senior Mallory Jones. “I’m glad that I’ve had the time to spend with these girls for the last few seasons. It’s been fun working with them. It’ll be sad to see Mel, Sydney and me go, but we’ll come back to watch the team next year.”
It may not be over just yet. The Lady Vikings are still mathematically in the equation for the last spot in the DIAA State Tournament bracket.
“Sitting with our playoff hopes in the hands of other teams isn't a fun place to be,” said Cape head coach Lauren Carra. “With a lot of odds against us this season, our players fought hard. Regardless of our fate in this postseason, this team needs to focus on becoming mentally and physically stronger to be more consistent this off-season. Consistency and mental toughness is what separates the teams in our conference. We saw what our team is capable of doing after our win at home against CR this season and being up on Tech at home going into the fourth quarter. We are capable of playing at that kind of level. Now, it's finding what it takes to play at that level every minute of every game.”
The opening round of the DIAA State Tournament is set to tip off Wednesday, Feb. 28.
