Cape girls’ basketball falls to Caravel
A disastrous fourth quarter and missed layups caused the Lady Vikings to take a 50-40 loss to Caravel Dec. 21 at Cape. They move to 3-2 with the non-conference loss.
Both teams started out lukewarm, with each picking up just eight points in the first quarter and ending the half with the Lady Vikings up 18-17. Cape finished the third with a 34-29 lead. That’s when the wheels came off.
“We just had a bunch of breakdowns, and we missed 17 layups,” said Cape coach Pat Woods. “We weren’t executing, and we were thinking way too much about what was going on rather than executing and running our system. I thought we rebounded well in the third quarter, but not so much in the fourth. I think it shook us a bit when Mehkia [Applewhite] got banged up. We settled for a bunch of threes and we weren’t hitting them. We got good looks; we just didn’t knock them down. If we made half of those layups, who knows?”
The Vikings allowed 21 points in the fourth while sinking six.
Julia Saleur led the Vikings with 13 points while grabbing eight rebounds.
“We were pressured and stressed, and we didn’t handle it like we can,” said Saleur. “We let up a little. I think we need to work harder on the mental aspect of our game. It was more mental than physical.”
Seniors Lauryn Head and Morgan Mahoney each finished with eight points, and 11 and 10 rebounds, respectively. Head dished off four assists. Mehkia Applewhite garnered seven points and five steals. Diana Nauman, Ella Rishko, Ja'Onna Lee and Kelly Bragg teamed for four points, eight rebounds and a steal.
“I think we were pumped up and were sort of going crazy,” said junior Nauman. “We weren’t taking our time and finishing like we can finish.”
“I think it was all mental with the layups,” said Head, a senior. “It’s something we’ll work on, and it won’t happen again.”
Caravel’s India Johnston, a Towson commit, scored 23 for the Bucs.
The game was the Lace Up 4 Pediatric Cancer fundraiser, where the Lady Vikings wore gold shoelaces, and raised funds for the cause with a 50/50 raffle and concessions profits.
The Cape JV team moved to 3-0 with a 50-21 win over the Bucs. Mya Maull and Faith Re led the team with 17 and 13 points, respectively.
