Spartans clip Seahawks 47-43 in girls’ basketball

For the second straight game, the Sussex Academy girls’ basketball team nearly overcame a few big deficits to give itself a chance in the closing moments.

This time it was the Spartans from Lake Forest that claimed a 47-43 victory Jan. 8 over the Seahawks.

“This was a good game,” said coach Rayona Benson. “We’re getting into this pattern where we’re not giving up, and that matters.”

Following a close first quarter won by Lake Forest 14-13, the Spartans began to separate themselves in the second, leading 19-13 before a pair of clutch three-pointers from sophomore Reilly Mobilia clawed the Seahawks back within striking distance, 23-19, just before halftime.

“Everybody showed a good game today; it’s just the little things that we need to clean up,” Benson said. “We came out in that second half and had three turnovers right off the bat, and that killed us. We just need to clean up little stuff like that so we can get a complete game.”

Despite surrendering some easy points to start the third quarter, the girls battled their way back and broke even in the frame to face a 35-31 deficit to open the fourth. The fast pace of play may have been an early factor working against the Seahawks, but Benson believes her girls adapted well.

“Lake Forest upped the tempo on us, which made us have to up the tempo because at that point, they were trying to control the game,” Benson said. “I thought we did a really good job of staying with that tempo; it’s not a tempo we are used to running at.”

Junior Grayce Glover led the Seahawks with 15 points, while Mobilia finished second with 12 points. Freshman Patti Lara Nieto showed off her sticky hands with some definitive steals. She was literally taking the ball out of the Spartans’ hands.

With under a minute to play, Sussex Academy pulled within two, but the Spartans held tight and managed to chew clock in their offensive half en route to a 47-43 victory over their Henlopen South rival.

Benson wanted her girls to come away with the win, but she thinks the squad is trending in the right direction: “Fixing up some of the plays we have on offense, and I saw a collapse on defense every now and then, so we just need to clean up some little stuff,” she said. “I like how we’re looking, and I’m excited for the rest of the season.”