NEWARK — Top-seeded Caravel found success inside all night against No. 7 St. Elizabeth, building a 21-point lead before taking a 53-37 decision in the DIAA girls basketball championship game on March 9 at the Bob Carpenter Center on the campus of the University of Delaware in Newark. For Caravel, the win provided a measure of redemption after a one-point loss in last year’s final against Ursuline. The Vikings, back in the title game for the first time since 2021, gained some valuable experience for a roster with no seniors.
Neither team scored for the first 4:40 of the game, but St. Elizabeth took a 2-0 lead on a jump shot by Tori Richardson. Caravel scored three times in the space of 72 seconds after that, and at the end of a low-scoring first, the Bucs had a 9-6 lead.
The Vikings trailed by two, 13-11, after a three-pointer by Sklyar Bolden midway through the second, but the Buccaneers scored the next eight points, all on layups. Three different players scored for Caravel in that stretch: Jordin Tate, Chastity “Speedy” Wilson (twice) and Makenzie Hunter. Anissa Harris had St. Elizabeth’s lone field goal in the final four minutes of the half, scoring on a layup with three seconds remaining.
The Vikings managed just seven points in the third quarter, with their lone field goal coming on a Za’Mylah Seda-Owens in the final 30 seconds. Caravel, meanwhile, continued to pound the ball inside, hitting from in close on shots by Brycelyn Stryckning, Wilson and Hunter, and the Bucs added a Hunter three-pointer.
Stryckning drained a triple after forcing a St. Elizabeth turnover, and the resulting triple she drained gave the Buccaneers their biggest lead of the game at 21 with 5:51 to go. But the Vikings refused to concede, and Makayla Sullivan hit a three-pointer to start a 10-0 run that finished with a Taniyah Reese three with 3:22 on the clock. St. E’s, however, was limited to two free throws in the final 41 seconds as Caravel claimed its second state championship overall.
Wilson led the Bucs with 17 points, while Stryckning had 14. Jordan Tate paced Caravel (21-3) with 10 rebounds. The Buccaneers finished with 28 points in the paint to 16 for the Vikings.
For St. Elizabeth, Seda-Owens had nine points, and Reese had eight. Skylar Bolden had a team-leading seven rebounds to go along with seven points. The Vikings finished the season 18-6.
All photos by Don Blake.
