Cape girls’ basketball falls to the Spartans in DIAA tourney
The Cape girls’ basketball team’s season came to an end Feb. 28, with a 53-49 loss to Saint Mark’s in the DIAA state tournament. The Spartans will play Ursuline Academy Friday, March 1.
The Spartans move to 13-8, while the Vikings close their 2024 season at 14-7.
In a first quarter that had the lead changing more times than the springtime weather in Delaware, the teams finished in a 10-10 tie. The Spartans squeaked ahead for a 23-21 lead at halftime.
The Spartans took advantage of keen shooting by sophomore Sophia Baffone to grab a 41-29 lead, but it wouldn’t hold up, as the Vikings came alive and reeled off a 14-2 run to tie the game with 3:38 left.
During the run, the trio of Amalia Fruchtman, Hayden Hudson and Faith Re scored four, four and five points. The Vikings had numerous chances to take the lead, but the clock ran out on the season.
“We didn’t know who our starters were going to be,” said Cape coach Pat Woods. “Amalia hasn’t practiced since we played Ursuline [Feb. 19] because of her ankle. But she said she felt good, and she played great. She does so much for us. We spoke at halftime about just doing a better job rebounding. You can point at whatever, but Saint Mark’s made shots in the second half they were missing in the first half. If we had played in the first half like we played in the fourth quarter, it would have been a different story.”
Fruchtman led the Vikings with 16 points and six rebounds. She also assisted on two scores and blocked two shots. Re tallied 14 points, five rebounds and two steals.
Hudson scored six points and seven rebounds. Senior Mya Maull had six points, three rebounds and three assists.
“I was so excited to get back on the court and play with my teammates,” said Fruchtman. “I just gave it my all, and I’m so proud of my team. As a team, we all played as hard as we could. There were no moments when I had any doubt in my mind that anyone wasn’t playing as hard as they could. So I think that says something about each and every one of us individually and together as a team. We just didn’t give up. And we played for each other.”
“We fought really hard,” said Re. “It’s a disappointing loss for sure. There are things that we could have done better, but we definitely played our butts off. We wanted to win when we came back from 12 down. We didn’t show it in the first half, but we didn’t want this to be the end. It’s that competitive fight that came out in us.”
As for next year, Cape will be losing two key players in Maull and Lulu Rishko.
“It’s going to be an adjustment, but we’ll have to pick up some different roles, but we’ll be back,” Re said.
