The Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association sponsored eight quarterfinal basketball matchups this weekend, with Catholic high schools participating in five of them. Three of those teams won and will play in the semifinals, which take place March 5 and 7 at the Bob Carpenter Center at the University of Delaware in Newark.
Tickets will be available at www.bluehens.com.
Girls
Padua vs. Caravel, March 1
Caravel used a big second quarter to pull away from Padua, and the top-seeded Buccaneers went on to a 56-37 win at Salesianum School.
Pandas led, 2-1, after a bucket by Abby Grillo. Brycelyn Stryckning drained a three-pointer for the Buccaneers, putting them on top for good. That triple started a 7-0 run for Caravel, one ended on two Grillo free throws.
Caravel turned up the pressure in the second quarter, using their defensive pressure, rebounding advantage and speed to grow the lead. Senior guard Cherish Bryant led the way. She scored six points in the second, but her impact was evident through all aspects of the game. She grabbed several rebounds and distributed the ball as the point guard.
For the Pandas, Kai Dwirantwi led the way with 12, and Lili DiMarco (St. John the Beloved Parish) finished with 11. Padua finished the season 17-5.
St. Elizabeth vs. Delaware Military, March 2
St. Elizabeth overcame a sluggish offensive performance and a determined opponent to take a 34-27 win at Saint Mark’s High School. The Vikings will meet No. 6 Sanford in a semifinal game on March 5 at the Bob Carpenter Center.
The Vikings, seeded seventh, pulled away from No. 2 Delaware Military in the second half when they met on Feb. 6, but the Seahawks handled just about everything the Vikings threw at them this time. Although DMA was the second seed and St. Elizabeth the seventh, the Vikings entered the game as a prohibitive favorite.
The Seahawks slowed the game down, but St. Elizabeth hit three three-point shots in the first half to take a 9-8 lead into the second. Turnovers and shooting struggles kept the score low throughout the second. Tori Richardson put the Vikings on top, 15-11, late in the half, but DMA’s Maya Hill hit a free throw with 5.8 seconds left, then rebounded her own miss and scored before the buzzer to cut the St. E lead to one at the half.
St. Elizabeth stretched the lead to six points in the third quarter, only to see the Seahawks put together a 7-0 run capped by a Tavi Prado mid-range field goal that swung the lead back to DMA. Taniyah Reese got the lead back for the Vikings with a three-pointer with 30 seconds left in the quarter.
Each team scored just two points in the first seven-plus minutes of the fourth. The Vikings made six straight free throws in the final 35 seconds to secure their first trip to the semifinals since they won the state championship in 2021.
Reese finished with 13 points, all in the second half. The Vikings (17-5) and Sanford will tip off at 6 p.m.
Polytech vs. Ursuline, March 2
Thirteenth-seeded Polytech kept pace with No. 5 Ursuline for one half, but the defending state champion Raiders turned the tables in the second half in a 63-36 win at Memorial Hall at Delaware State University. The Raiders will take on No. 1 Caravel on March 5 at 8 p.m. at the Bob Carpenter Center.
Ursuline took a 9-2 lead on a Jasmine Butler layup following a Polytech turnover, but the Panthers were not deterred. They tied the game at 14 on a layup by De’Janae Gibson a minute and a half into the second quarter, and the teams were neck and neck for the rest of the half. Poly sent the teams into the locker rooms tied at 24 with a mid-range jumper by Saniya Skinner.
Ursuline opened the second half on a 7-0 run that included a layup by Jasmine Butler a Claire Gordon three-pointer a left-handed layup by GG Banks. With a minute and a half remaining in the third, however, Polytech trailed by just four, but a twisting layup from Olivia O’Hara added two points for the Raiders. She was fouled on the play and missed the free throw, but she grabbed her own miss and made a short shot, extending the advantage to eight.
After a timeout, Banks took a pass after a steal and hit an unlikely layup. She was also fouled, and after the free throw, Ursuline’s lead was 11.
The Panthers stuck close for a few minutes into the fourth, but Ursuline got hot offensively. The Raiders, getting three-pointers from Banks and Gordon, scored 20 of the final 21 points for the win.
Final statistics were not available as of March 3. Ursuline (13-9) will take on No. 1 Caravel at the Bob on March 5 at 8 p.m. It is a rematch of last year’s championship game. The teams also met on Feb. 6, an Ursuline win.
Boys
Howard vs. St. Elizabeth, March 1
Kenny Hunter Jr. scored 22 points to lead St. Elizabeth past Howard at Salesianum School. The win sends the Vikings to the semifinal round for the second consecutive year.
The Vikings, the second seed, trailed early on, 6-5, but they scored nine of the final 11 points of the first quarter, and the first seven of the second quarter, when Masen Price hit a baseline jumper to put them ahead, 21-8. The lead was 17 at the half.
Howard came out firing in the second half. Bryson Lane hit a pair of three-point shots to lead a balanced scoring attack, and a transition field goal from Kaden Brown cut the Wildcats’ deficit to nine. Still, the Vikings took a 14-point lead into the final quarter thanks in part to DeShaun Holden’s eight points in the third.
The St. Elizabeth lead dwindled to seven after a Brown bucket with 6:17 to go. They got as close as five, but the Vikings were able to hold them off. St. Elizabeth was perfect on seven free throw attempts; six of their final eight points came from the line.
In addition to Hunter, three other Vikings reached double figures. Holden had 16, and Kiyen Alexander and Caden Harris each had 10. Price scored nine. St. E’s (18-4) will meet the sixth seed, Sanford, on March 7 at 6 p.m. The Warriors took a 53-47 decision on Feb. 15.
Salesianum vs. Dover, March 2, 2025
After falling behind by a point early in the second quarter, top-seeded Dover scored 10 straight points and never looked back in a 55-41 win at Memorial Hall at Delaware State University.
Dover scored the first seven points of the evening, but the Sals, the No. 8 seed, rebounded with eight of the next 10. The Senators took a 16-12 lead into the second, but Salesianum took the lead on a short turnaround jumper by R.J. Johnson and an old-fashioned three-point play by Nasir Logan with 6:34 to go in the half.
Dover, who defeated the Sals in last year’s state championship game, went on a 10-0 run to close out the half, however. Chase Little started it with a short bank shot, and Kam Randolph scored after an offensive rebound to finish the run. Latrell Wright hit the first field goal of the second half, pulling the Sals to within six, but Dover grew the advantage to 11 by the end of the quarter.
The Senators extended the lead to 13 early in the fourth before the Sals got their offense going. Three-pointers from Wright and Johnson, along with a layup from Johnson and two Wright free throws cut the Dover lead to 42-37 with 4:14 to go. But Dover found its groove again and pulled away for the victory.
Final statistics were not available as of March 3. The Sals finished the season at 9-13.
Photos by Mike Lang.
