By Andy Walter

DOVER — Dover High’s girls’ basketball players are serious about winning.

But the Senators aren’t so serious that they still can’t have fun playing the game.

Junior Myaja Bynum said that’s one thing she likes about this year’s Dover squad.

“I enjoy every practice,” she said with a smile. “We’ll be on the court and it may be a serious time. But we can still have our moments when, hey, let’s have a little laugh.”

With that in mind, Dover coach Jahi Davenport is trying to keep his players focused on simply improving and taking ownership of the program. Even though his team is 3-1, Davenport knows that most of his players are young.

After having only one senior on the roster last winter, the Senators have just one senior again this season in Heaven Hendricks.

Dover’s 12-player roster includes five sophomores and a pair of freshmen.

“They’re young,” said Davenport. “And when developing young players and trying to create a culture, you don’t want them to run away from the game. You want them to actually have fun and have a lot of input in the game.”

The Senators’ biggest issue right now is waiting to play a game again.

Dover has had four contests postponed, largely for COVID reasons, since it last played a game on Dec. 14. The Senators were supposed to face Sussex Tech in a Henlopen North matchup on Thursday.

Now Dover isn’t slated to play until Saturday when it hosts highly-regarded Caravel at 2 p.m.

At Thursday’s practice, Davenport was planning to divide up the team and have a scrimmage.

“We’re going to try to make it as much like a game as possible without having a game,” he said.

“You just never know,” Davenport said about the schedule. “It’s just so sporadic. Every week you just cross your fingers and hope that you don’t get that phone call.”

Freshman Sara Benson is one of the Senators’ up-and-coming players. A 5-foot-9 forward, she’s scored 18 and 16 points in two of Dover’s victories.

She said she doesn’t mind getting in a little more practice time right now.

“The practices have been good,” said Benson. “It’s tough but, at the same time, it gives us more time to work. I like it.”

Probably the Senators’ biggest win so far was a 50-45 victory over rival Caesar Rodney on Dec. 9. Dover overcame an early seven-point deficit with Bynum sinking three of four foul shots in the last 48 seconds to seal the win.

“That was an intense game,” said Benson. “But we pulled through at the end. That was one of the best games — the feeling afterwards.”

“I think we all just buckled down,” said Bynum, who scored 14 points in the win. “We were like, we’ve got to pull out all our tricks, go out there and give our best.”

Davenport knows that trying to compete with Caravel on Saturday won’t be easy. The Buccaneers (5-4) are 4-0 against Delaware teams this season, including a 50-40 victory over Henlopen Conference power Cape Henlopen.

Davenport had hoped Dover would have more games under its belt before it faced Caravel. Still, he hopes the contest will be a good learning experience for the Senators.

Davenport does think Dover is improving after going 8-8 and winning a DIAA state tournament game last season.

“Now they actually feel like they can play a little bit,” he said. “I think last year was a little overwhelming for them. This year they’re finding their way.”

“I’m looking forward to it, I know a lot of the girls are, too,” Bynum said about playing Caravel. “We can just go out, have fun and play hard — win or lose.”