Cape girls can’t scale Dover’s Hill, falling 35-30

The Dover High School drum corps pounded out a rhythm in the stands, but the Lady Vikings could not find their own rhythm on the hardwood, as the Senators used a 15-point second quarter and a powerful performance by senior Brianna Hill to sink the Vikings 35-30 in a loud and exuberant Senators gymnasium.

Dania Cannon and Sydney Pedersen scored 22 of 30 points for the Vikings, who found that shots were not falling. Hill scored 20 points for the Senators.

The lack of excitement from the Vikings seemed to be infectious as you could hear a pin drop on the court as the Lady Vikings got close, but could not control the offense of the Senators’ Hill.

“We’re back to the inconsistency that we continue to see,” said Cape coach Lauren Carra. “Now it’s two games straight. It’s not the roller coaster at the top then the fall to the bottom. Now we’ve just evened off at the bottom, and their wasn’t any energy in this game.”

But the second-year head coach says her team controls its own destiny.

“We’ve been telling the girls that you can control your energy, you can control your effort. We’re not consistent with that just yet.”

But with Cape being 4-4 entering the midpoint of the season, the Vikings need to feel a sense of urgency about getting on track.

“We are still a young team with sophomores and juniors,” said Carra.  “Eventually we’ll get to that point where they will be consistent, and it just takes work and it takes a lot of time.”

The Cape junior varsity fell to the Senators 20-11, moving the team’s record to 5-2 on the season. Rye Elliott led the JV Vikings with seven points.

The Vikings travel to Smyrna Friday, Jan. 6, where they hope to get back on the winning track as they face the 1-5 Eagles.