Cape girls fend off rivals in back-to-back division battles

The Cape girls’ basketball team showed no love to its adversaries in the two days leading up to Valentine’s Day, moving to 16-2 by downing Sussex Central 43-21 Feb. 12 and Caesar Rodney 49-36 Feb. 13.

In the first contest, the Golden Knights showed they were ready to take on the No. 3 team in the state by hanging with the Vikings early on. Officials were letting the girls play, making scoring a rare feat in a 5-5 first quarter. Cape adjusted to the physicality and started pulling away a bit in the second quarter.

Despite leading, Cape’s offense was running in a lower gear than usual. Things changed in the third quarter.

“The offense was just stagnant, and then we started making some layups in the second half,” said coach Ron Dukes, who was a longtime coach at Central before moving over to Cape.

Senior Jurnee White has become a weapon for Cape off the bench, ready to fill a variety of roles depending on the situation. Against Sussex Central, the Vikings needed points and turnovers.

“Jurnee White came in and did an awesome job,” Dukes said. “She gave us some really good minutes, hit some shots in the first half, shots in the beginning of the second half. I thought she was a big factor tonight.”

The 14-8 halftime lead expanded to a 32-16 advantage for Cape, and eventually the 43-21 victory.

Amalia Fruchtman led all players with 24 points and seven boards, and White chipped in with nine points and four rebounds.

Cape used its momentum to spoil Caesar Rodney’s Senior Night Feb. 13, dispatching the Riders with a big first half in the 49-36 win. Fruchtman tallied 31 points in the victory.

With two games left to play, Polytech and Dover, Cape will likely finish the Henlopen North schedule undefeated and compete for the conference title. However, don’t expect these girls to celebrate anything just yet, as they are focused on constant improvement.

“Taking it one day at a time, getting 1% better, just doing everything we can to prepare for the tournament,” Fruchtman said.

Having just two losses this late in the season, Cape will get every team’s best shot, but the girls welcome the challenge.

“It's what you live with when you're there,” Dukes said. “You have to fight through it every single night.”