By Tim Mastro

CAMDEN — The Caesar Rodney High girls’ basketball team thought it was in control.

Then all of a sudden the Riders looked at the scoreboard and saw a one-possession game.

The seniors huddled together with a message — their high school careers were not going to end here.

“It definitely put a fire in us, I don’t want to go home,” CR senior Stacey Deputy said. “I’m not going to play basketball in college so I know this is it. I’m going to come out here and give it my all every single night and fight to the end.”

The Riders used a 19-point fourth quarter to pull away from Appoquinimink High for a 44-31 victory on Wednesday night in the first round of the DIAA girls’ basketball tournament. Caesar Rodney (14-6), who is seeded 16th in the 24-team field, advanced to play at top seed Caravel Academy on Friday night at 7 p.m.

Deputy paced the Riders with a game-high 24 points.

Appoquinimink, the tournament’s 17th seed, pulled within 23-20 in the third quarter thanks to a three-pointer by Alyssa Cresto. The Riders then clamped down on defense, holding the Jaguars without a made field goal for the next 11 possessions.

Cresto netted 18 of Appoquinimink’s 20 points through the first three quarters. The Riders dedicated their defensive gameplan to limiting her shot attempts in the fourth as she finished with 20 points.

“She was shooting the lights out,” Deputy said. “She was beating us single-handedly. We had to lock in and try to make someone else beat us other than her.”

With four seniors out of the five on the floor down the stretch, the Riders received big plays from each of them.

Erin Hirvela hit a trio of long two-pointers during an 8-2 second half CR run. Teri Bell grabbed a couple of clutch rebounds, including one for a putback which game the Riders a 38-28 advantage in the second half. Nubia Estwick added a floater in the lane for the Riders’ biggest lead of the night late in the fourth quarter.

“When they decide to play together and play hard consistently I love to watch them on the floor,” CR coach Tameka Williams said. “It took them a little while, I think there were a little jitters with the first round game, but once they settled in, it was a good day.”

And when the Jaguars cut the lead back to seven points, Deputy made sure it went back up to double digits.

She was fouled and converted her first of two free throws attempts before the second rimmed out. But Bell was there on the offensive glass and quickly passed to a cutting Deputy for an uncontested layup and a 41-31 lead.

Deputy also knocked down four three-pointers on the night, finishing 4-of-6 from three-point range.

“I’m always confident,” Deputy said. “If you don’t have confidence, you won’t succeed in anything in life. If they’re leaving me open, then I’m going to take what they give me and knock them down.”

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