Cape girls’ basketball rolls rival Milford 65-14
Squaring off against their northern neighbor, the Cape girls’ basketball team wasn’t too fond of Milford scoring the first points on their Senior Night Feb. 6.
The Bucs broke the ice and were locked into a 6-6 tie with the Vikings with just under five minutes to go in the first quarter before the Cape girls put the pedal to the metal. Over the next nine minutes, they held Milford off the board while collecting 27 points. Part of a larger 38-3 run that spanned nearly 13 minutes and ended the half, the early separation was all the home team needed to claim a 65-14 win.
Sophomore Amalia Fruchtman led the Vikings with 23 points, going 10-for-11 from the field. Junior Havyn Greene chipped in with 12, while Ally Diehl scored nine points on just five shots.
Mya Maull had four steals and, alongside fellow senior Lulu Rishko, was honored before the Senior Night game.
“The thing I love about these two is that I always ask the girls to talk to me and let me know what’s going on,” said coach Pat Woods. “They’re willing to have tough conversations with me and tell me where we need to adjust for the team.”
Maull, a four-year letter winner, said among her favorite memories of high school basketball were the three-peat Henlopen Conference Championships from 2021-23. Calling both his seniors selfless, Woods said Maull showed up consistently during her four years, missing maybe two events total.
“I just love this team. Every day we have fun at practice. We’re all great people, so it wasn’t hard for us to get along,” Maull said.
Rishko, a 2023 Henlopen Conference Championship team member, agreed with Maull that she enjoys playing with this group of girls.
“It’s really fun to close out the season with these girls. We have a lot of fun, and I’m going to miss it next year,” Rishko said.
Lulu’s sister, Mairead, is a freshman on the team and has played valuable minutes alongside her older sibling.
“It’s cool because we have such a big age gap that we don’t usually play sports together. It’s very different, but it’s so much fun,” Lulu said.
The senior Rishko recently wrapped up an illustrious field hockey career and will lead the Vikings on the lacrosse field in 2024 before heading off to play the sport at Virginia Tech.
“Lulu has to navigate being an elite lacrosse and field hockey player with basketball sandwiched in the middle. She gets very little break but still brings it every night,” Woods said.
The Cape JV team remained undefeated with a 41-34 win over visiting Ursuline Academy. Harper Mamele led the way with 13 points and seven rebounds. Amara Fruchtman tallied 11 points and nine rebounds. Maya Yngve recorded nine points and four assists. Jurnee White collected six points, seven rebounds, three assists and three steals.
