Sussex Central basketball girls chase conference championship

The Sussex Central basketball girls, coached by Ron Dukes, haven't won a Henlopen Conference basketball championship since 1995.

"Been a long time," Dukes said after his Golden Knights ran the clock on Cape in a 69-39 victory. "We have all starters back next year, so we are getting great experience on what it's like to compete against the best in pursuit of a championship."

Central jumped Cape hard in the first quarter, leading 16-3, then ran a 32-13 crooked number at Cape in the second to lead 48-16 at the half.

"I felt we were sluggish in the first half after playing and beating Caesar Rodney the night before," Dukes said.

"We have Saint Elizabeth at home on Thursday [Jan. 30] so that should give us an indication of how far we've come," Dukes said.

Saint E is part of what Dukes calls the Big Four, which includes Caravel, Sanford and Ursuline.

Central has a showdown game at Smyrna Monday, Feb. 10, that could determine the Henlopen Conference Northern Division Championship.

Sussex Central was led in scoring by Taylor Pritchett with 27 and Jasmine Hudson with13 points.

Cape's Madison MacElrevey and Taylor Hardy each had  7.