Home Local Sports Caravel overwhelms Ursuline behind 30 points from India Johnston

Caravel overwhelms Ursuline behind 30 points from India Johnston

785
India Johnston of Caravel, here dribbling near Ursuline's Sophia Filipowski, scored 30 points to lead the Bucs. Dialog photo/Jason Winchell

BEAR — Ursuline trailed Caravel, 40-27, in the latter stages of the third quarter before making a bit of a move. Hannah Kelley scored off an offensive rebound, and Abigail Grillo drained a three-point shot, and suddenly the Raiders trailed by just eight. But the Bucs’ India Johnston followed Grillo’s make by dribbling the ball upcourt, stopping and swishing a three of her own, and Caravel pulled away for a 68-43 victory on Feb. 7.

Following Johnston’s triple, Giniah Gale added a pair of short field goals. The first came off a beautiful feed from Johnston, and the second was a follow shot after an offensive rebound. Gale, a junior, played her first game of the season.

The Buccaneers extended the lead in the fourth. Johnston and Amaya Johnson scored off consecutive steals to open the quarter, and they kept going. Johnston scored nine points in the fourth on her way to a game-high 30, and Johnson would add a three-pointer midway through the quarter.

The Raiders and Bucs came out running to start the contest, with neither team scoring until Taylor Wilkins stole a ball at halfcourt and took it in for a layup and a 2-0 Caravel lead. Hannah Kelley tied it for the Raiders, getting open underneath, but the Buccaneers responded with the next eight points. Kelley had a free throw, Ella Gordon nailed a three, and Jordin Tate added a field goal as Ursuline got back to within a pair, and the quarter ended with the Bucs on top, 14-10.

Johnston, the reigning state player of the year, really got going in the second. After a Jazzlyn Wesley bucket got the Raiders back to within one score, Johnston cranked it up. Wilkins hit two free throws for Caravel’s first two points of the second, but Johnston went for the next nine. She scored inside, mid-range and from deep, with her three-pointer giving the Bucs a 25-15 lead. She ended up with 11 of the team’s 15 second-quarter points.

Wilkins joined Johnston in double figures with 12. The Buccaneers (12-5) host Tower Hill on Friday at 7:15 p.m. in their final home game of the regular season.

For the Raiders, Kelley had 14. Gordon added eight. Ursuline fell to 9-5 and will travel to Sanford on Wednesday for a 6 p.m. tip.

All photos by Jason Winchell.