Week Three of the Delaware high school basketball season told us a bit about who we can look forward to seeing after the new year – which is still a whole lot of teams, but some games stood out more than others, including our girls’ game of the week.
Boys’ Basketball Game of the Week – William Penn 67, Delcastle 41
Photos by Gee Johnson For Strictly GP Shots
Coming into Thursday’s Flight A battle, host Delcastle and William Penn were both 3-0 with wins over Appoquinimink to their credit. The similarities stopped there as Penn dropped four three pointers in a two minute stretch to take a 12-0 lead they would hold throughout the game. Senior guard Isaac Brady led four Colonials (4-0, 2-0 Flight A) in double figures with 15 points. He was joined by Brandon Ash and Josiah Harris (13 each) and Julian DeJesus (11 points) with 10 or more.
Junior forward Jaheem Gadsden led Delcastle (3-1, 1-1 Flight A) with 12 points and senior forward Olufemi Olewere joined him in double figures with 11. Both teams will head out of state this weekend with Penn playing in the Governors’ Classic in Salisbury while Delcastle heads up to New Jersey for games in the Boardwalk Classic and the Penns Grove Showcase.
Boys’ Notes: Defending champion Sanford had a solid showing at the City of Palms Classic this week following a rough opener against national powerhouse Montverde Academy.
Featuring five top 20 recruits, Montverde had little trouble with the Warriors in an 81-45 win, but Sanford won the consolation bracket handily, defeating Florida high schools Riverview (87-81) and Ft. Myers (52-38) before knocking off Vashon of Missouri 65-54. The Road Warriors will now take their traveling show to Slam Dunk to the Beach this weekend.
The annual Rumble by the River hosted by St. Georges Tech may prove to be the coming out party for Delmarva Christian Academy. The Royals impressed many onlookers with a 78-44 victory over McKean. Freshman Gabe Herling led DCA with 23 points and senior Seth Stevens added 15 points on five three-point shots. The unbeaten Royals’ next big contest? A trip to William Penn on Saturday January 25th. Should be interesting.
After a rough 0-4 non-conference stretch to start the season, Howard got on track by becoming the first team in Delaware this year to score 90 twice in the same week with big Flight B wins over A.I. duPont (97-56) and Brandywine (90-63). The Wildcats’ first two games out of the break (hosting Dickinson 01/07 and a trip to Christiana 01/09) will be just as big if Howard’s state tournament hopes are to be realized.
Caesar Rodney battled back from a fourth quarter deficit to defeat Woodbridge 74-64 in overtime before their unbeaten start was ended by Appoquinimink 80-67. Their first game after the new year is a visit to Dover on January 7th. Hold on to your hats.
Girls’ Basketball Game of the Week – Ursuline 52, Archmere 45
Photos by Chris Stevens
We really hope Ursuline and Archmere see each other again in March – the regular season matchup was a fun one. The Raiders and Auks traded leads and runs up until the end of the third quarter when Ursuline finally was able to grab a lead and hold it behind a game-high 20 points from junior guard Emily Rzucidlo. Rzucidlo was joined in double figures by junior Emma Raftovich with 14 points.
Lauren Kim drained four three-pointers and led the Auks with 18 points, while Fiona Teaney and Izzy Gioffre added 12 and 11 points respectively for Archmere. Both schools will participate in this weekend’s Diamond State Classic at St. Elizabeth High School.
Girls’ Notes: After not fielding a team for much of the 2018-19 season, A.I. DuPont is currently on a two-game winning streak after upsetting defending Flight B champion Howard 39-38 and defeating First State Military Academy 69-37. The Tigers’ next big test will be Saturday January 4th when they host as-of-now-unbeaten St. Mark’s.
Speaking of the 6-0 Spartans, they will take on Wilmington Friends in the NC Insurance Cup bracket of the Diamond State Classic Friday morning at 9:45 am. The winner of that game will play the Wilmington Charter-Severn School winner Saturday at 4 pm for the Cup championship.
Diamond State Classic host St. Elizabeth is playing well while awaiting the return of UMass commit Ber’Nyah Ward-Mayo. Junior guard Olivia Lynch scored a season high 28 points as the Vikings took down Catholic Conference rival Padua 79-52 last Friday, upping the Vikings’ mark to 3-1 on the young season. St. E will take on Centerville (OH) in the main draw of the Classic Friday night at 7:45 pm.
The annual Pat Borowski tournament, honoring the legendary Lake Forest girls’ coach, will have several interesting teams participating this weekend. Undefeated Tatnall and Dover will be playing, as well as the host Spartans, Middletown and Hodgson, who have just one loss. Newark and Smryna round out the field.
Games of the week: More like the tournament of the week as we’ll be shooting pics and vids at the Diamond State Classic. The girls will take center stage for our week four recap and you can expect interviews with coaches and players for First State Hoops Radio.
First State Hoops Radio Vol. 3
We talked to Ursuline head coach John Noonan and William Penn standout Isaac Brady for this week’s episode, which you can listen to here.
Credits: Photos by Gee Johnson for Strictly GP Shots and Chris Stevens. Video shot and edited by Chris Stevens. Podcast recorded, produced, edited and hosted by Chris Stevens
If there’s anything we need to know about Delaware basketball, send us an e-mail at FirstStateHoopsReport@gmail.com.