By Andy Walter

DOVER — In a lot of ways, Cape Henlopen High’s girls’ basketball team had a great season last winter.

The Vikings won 19 games and a Henlopen North title.

But in other ways, Cape walked away empty-handed. The Vikings were knocked off by Woodbridge in the Henlopen championship game and then had the last two rounds of the DIAA state tournament canceled by the pandemic after they reached the Final Four.

Cape’s players were determined to make sure that didn’t happen again.

It certainly took everything the Vikings had on Saturday but they pulled out a 37-36 victory over the Blue Raiders to capture the girls’ Henlopen Conference title.

Morgan Mahoney scored the winning basket on an inbounds play with only 34.1 seconds left and Mehkia Applewhite came up with a steal in the closing seconds before North champion Cape (15-0) could avenge a 48-40 loss to South champion Woodbridge in last year’s conference title game.

The Vikings and Raiders were playing in the Henlopen championship game for the third year in a row. Cape has now won two of the three.

“I tell you what, it stung last year,” said Cape coach Pat Woods. “Our mindset last year was ‘bigger and better things.’ Then we stunk it up here and we didn’t have an opportunity at the bigger and better things.

“It was like we walked away with nothing. It was a lesson to be learned.”

“We just wanted to come in, execute and redeem ourselves from last year,” said Applewhite. “There was so much pressure. We just had to keep our composure.”

“We got in our heads last year,” said Mahoney. “This year we kept our composure and just played through everything. It’s really exciting.”

In a tightly-contested game, played on the same Dover High court, not much separated the two squads again. The contest featured six lead changes and three ties with a seven-point lead for Cape going into the fourth quarter the biggest advantage for either side.

But it was Woodbridge (11-3) that held a 36-33 lead with just over a minute left when Reghan Robinson sank a three-pointer and then Cha’Kya Johnson followed with a basket inside.

The Vikings, though, closed within 36-35 on an Applewhite putback with 42 seconds remaining. Cape then got a turnover to set up Mahoney’s game-winning basket.

Cape committed 24 turnovers with Woodbridge committing 18.

“Our defense is amazing and that’s how we play — that’s what wins us games,” said Mahoney.

Applewhite netted a game-high 17 points for Cape with Mahoney adding 11. Robinson, a freshman, tallied 10 for Woodbridge, including a pair of big three-pointers in the fourth quarter.

Both teams made 15 field goals with four three-pointers apiece — the Vikings were 15-of-42 while the Raiders went 15-of-47. But the difference came at the foul line where Cape went 3-for-7 while Woodbridge was 2-for-6.

There’s a good chance that Cape and Woodbridge will meet again on Friday in the upcoming DIAA state tournament.

Both teams open the tourney on Wednesday. The 10th-seeded Raiders host No. 23 Lake Forest while the No. 7 Vikings take on either St. Georges or Sussex Academy at Sussex Tech.

“My biggest concern coming in was that we hadn’t had a game like this yet,” said Woods. “This is the first game that within 20 points. Everybody I talked to, that was everybody’s concern — what do you do when things get tough? It was great for us.”

Woodbridge coach Isaiah Robinson knows his team can play better.

“We made a lot of crucial mistakes at crucial times,” he said. “You can’t do that in a championship game. We’d have loved to win but we’ll learn from the mistakes and get back at it.

“They’ve got heart,” Robinson said about his players. “Even when a lot of people don’t give them a chance, they’ve got heart and they’re always right there, still fighting.”