Cape girls’ basketball gets signature win over Pandas

It was a tale of two halves Feb. 5, as the Cape girls’ basketball team overcame a 16-12 first-half deficit to dominate Padua Academy 27-12 in the second half and secure its 13th win of the season with a 39-28 triumph.

Senior Amalia Fruchtman led the way with 16 points, including two three-pointers. Junior Ally Diehl added 10 points, with a pair of shots from beyond the arc.

Cape coach Ron Dukes said the Vikings knew they were in for a battle against the Pandas.

“When we watched film on them, we thought they were playing the best of any team in the state based on what we saw,” Dukes said. “Our first half was horrible. We hardly ran any plays properly. We allowed them to get back on defense, and we didn’t push the ball.”

At halftime, Dukes reminded his team of the narrative surrounding downstate programs – that they can’t beat upstate teams because they aren’t physical enough, mean enough, tough enough or nasty enough.

“That was our mindset to start the game, and we reminded them at halftime that we weren’t there yet,” Dukes said. “If we want to beat them, we have to be there. We did that in the second half. We ran plays the right way. We boxed out. We had bodies on people. We battled.”

“We slowed ourselves down in the second half and concentrated on our game,” Diehl said. “We focused on ourselves and controlled the tempo.”

“It was a team effort,” said sophomore Jordynn Bowe, who held Padua offensive standout Lilianna DiMarco to just eight points. “I relied on my teammates. I knew they were going to be there to help me.”

“I believe this is our signature win of the season so far,” Dukes said. “Padua is a top 10 team with a really tough schedule. They’ve beaten Ursuline twice. They have some tough in-state teams coming up, so that will really tell the story.”

The Vikings host Milford Tuesday, Feb. 10, for Senior Night.