Pressure is put on CR’s Stacey Deputy by Cape defenders Julia Saleur and Elizabeth Rishko at Cape Henlopen on Tuesday. (Special to the Delaware State News/Chuck Snyder) LEWES — From a coach’s …
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LEWES — From a coach’s viewpoint, sometimes these are the best kinds of wins.
Cape Henlopen High was good enough to remain unbeaten in girls’ basketball on Tuesday night.
But the Vikings weren’t particularly sharp on offense before dispatching Caesar Rodney, 50-29, in a Henlopen North matchup.
The contest showed that there’s no reason for Cape (3-0) to feel complacent said coach Pat Woods.
“It was sloppy,” he said. ”But that’s alright, offensive execution always comes late. Every team I’ve ever coached it’s always the last thing that comes.
“They did a great job of pressing up and making us play fast,” Woods added about the Riders. “We just didn’t finish very well.”
The Vikings’ defense, on the other hand, looked pretty good.
Cape limited CR (2-1) to only four first-quarter points. The Vikings, who forced the Riders into 22 turnovers, led 22-13 by halftime.
CR made only six field goals in the game, and only three in the first three quarters. The Riders scored most of their points from the foul line where they went 16-of-27.
Woods said the Vikings have always taken pride in their defense. Cape is giving up only 25.3 points per game and hasn’t allowed 30 points in any one contest this season.
Ella Rishko had five steals with Julia Saleur and Morgan Mahoney adding four apiece.
“It’s kind of a hallmark of ours,” said Woods. “We practice our man-to-man defense quite a bit. That was our focus tonight — taking away some of the things they like to do.”
Offensively, Mehkia Applewhite collected 17 points and six rebounds while Mahoney (10 rebounds) and Saleur each scored 10 points.
Stacey Deputy scored 17 points to pace the Riders, hitting 11-of-14 foul shots.
Tuesday’s victory was Cape’s 19th straight in the Henlopen North and leaves the Vikings clearly as the team to beat in the division again this season. But Woods knows Cape will have to keep improving if it wants to make a run in the DIAA state tournament.
“That was the great thing about tonight in that it showed us some things we need to work on,” he said. “We’ve got a long ways to go. I think we have what it takes to get it done.
“I think we can compete at a really high level, we’ve just got to be able to put those things together on the defensive end as well as the offensive end.”
