By Tim Mastro

HOCKESSIN — Two years ago, the Cape Henlopen High girls’ basketball team earned a trip to the Bob Carpenter Center.

But the COVID-19 pandemic prevented the Vikings from playing on that stage as the rest of the 2020 postseason was canceled.

Monday was a chance for the Vikings to earn another berth to “The Bob” — one they would get to actually experience this time.

But they ran into a Sanford School team, which had no interest in letting Cape Henlopen settle in the game.

Sanford stymied the Viking offense on its way to a 53-27 victory in the DIAA state quarterfinals. The Warriors, seeded second in the 24-team field, advanced to play No. 6 Ursuline in the semifinals at the University of Delaware on Wednesday at 8:30 p.m.

The Vikings finished the year with a 18-6 record. Cape coach Pat Woods said goodbye to seven seniors who have won four division titles and three conference titles, but never got the chance to experience a semifinal game.

“We haven’t checked that box yet,” Woods said. “I would just like our program to play in that environment. We fell short again and it hurts for them. I wish it could be different and we could have accomplished what they set out to accomplish.”

“I hate it because it’s going to feel empty for them,” Woods added. “We can all sit here as adults and recognize they accomplished a lot. But in a kid’s mind, and kind of my mind right now, if you don’t hit that goal, there’s no consolation. But I know they’ll have bigger moments in the future.”

Cape Henlopen was with the Warriors for the first quarter and the opening minutes of the second.

Morgan Mahoney hit a pair of free throws to pull within 13-11 after two possessions in the second quarter. But the Vikings came up empty on the next seven possessions as Sanford went on a 10-0 run.

Cape Henlopen only made one field goal in the second quarter, a layup by Julia Saleur, and trailed 25-14 at halftime. Sanford went on another run in the third quarter, outscoring the Vikings 15-8.

“They’re phenomenal defensively, they knock down shots, get the shots they want, they’re never off-balanced and we were the other side of the coin,” Woods said.

“I knew we could try to junk it up defensively and try to hope for some steals to get layups but they took care of the ball. Then we just struggled scoring against their defense.”

Mahoney was the only player for the Vikings in double figures with 10 points.

Follow @TimMastroDSN on Twitter.