Late Comeback Pushes Caesar Rodney Girls Past Caravel

Ellee Rollins (#3) helps teammate Dara Taylor (#2) up after being knocked down in Monday night's DIAA Girls Basketball Quarter-final Tournament match-up between Caravel Academy and Caesar Rodney High School. (Photo by Rob Tornoe)

Big players make big plays in big games, says the adage. In the first half of #1 seed Caesar Rodney’s (22-2) one-point victory over visiting #9 seed Caravel (14-11) in the quarter-final round of the DIAA Girls’ Basketball Tournament on Monday night, there was no player bigger than the Buccaneers’ All-American senior captain Dara Taylor.

Keyed by outstanding perimeter defense and 16 first-half points by Taylor (who finished the game with 20), the Riders were unable to find open looks for the three point shooting that fuels their offense. When Taylor wasn’t scoring, she was creating for her teammates, finding seniors Arielle Chard (8 points) and Janell Dunham (5 points) in the low post en route to building a 31-14 half-time lead for the underdog Buccaneers.

Caravel’s 17-point lead seemed insurmountable to most, but not to Caesar Rodney coach Bill Victory. “We weren’t playing with intensity in the first half,” said Victory. “It took us awhile to get the engine started, but once we got started, we knew we could play our game.”

The Riders’ strategy was one familiar to anyone who has watched a Rick Pitino-coached team: play full-court press after every basket, force cheap turnovers, and find open looks for three-point shots. Lots of three point shots.

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The difference between Caesar Rodney’s lackluster first-half and their dominant performance in the fourth quarter (where the Riders outscored Caravel 21-8) was attributable to their execution of this simple strategy. The Riders’ converted only one three-point field goal in the first half, while being nearly perfect in the second half in draining six three-pointers.

Perhaps the most decisive play in the game came early in the third quarter, when Caravel’s Taylor took a jarring elbow to the chest. Unable to raise her hands above her shoulders for the rest of the game without wincing in pain, Taylor looked mortal on both ends of the court as she struggled to penetrate on offense, while also being just a step slower in her perimeter defense.

Led down the stretch by captain Cortney Bayard (14 points) and two clutch free throws by junior Jazmine Reeves (8 points), Caesar Rodney held a precarious 46-43 lead with :29 seconds remaining in regulation. Caravel had one last possession to find an open shot to tie the game, but after losing her dribble and regaining it with time winding down, Taylor penetrated for a lay-up to make the score 46-45. With only four seconds remaining, and no turnover on the inbound play, the Riders held on to win.

Though the loss for Caravel was a heartbreaking one, their sadness was tempered by bittersweet reflection. “I told them that I’m just proud of this team, and especially our seniors,” said Buccaneers coach Kristin Caldwell, adding “This is a team that ‘gets it’.”

Taylor, though understandably saddened, was no less reflective. “It sucks right now, but I told my teammates in the locker room that we played a rough schedule, we played with people hurt. Nobody thought we could beat Saint Marks, and we did. We came in here and had the #1 seed down by 17 points, and that just shows the fight that we have as a team.”

Caesar Rodney advances to the Final Four of the DIAA tournament, where they will play #4 seed Delcastle (21-3) at the University of Delaware’s Bob Carpenter Arena on Wednesday, March 11th.