WILMINGTON — Ursuline scored 10 straight points in the latter part of the second quarter to pull away from St. Elizabeth on the way to a 49-34 win Dec. 4 at the St. E Center. The season opener for both teams pitted the top-seeded Raiders, who are the defending state champs, against No. 4 St. Elizabeth, according to the Delaware Live rankings.
Ursuline, with just one returning starter, jumped to an early 8-3 lead, but a strong quarter from ZaMylah Seda-Owens helped the Vikings bounce back to take a 12-10 lead late. She made a three-pointer and hit three of four free throws as the Raiders got into early foul trouble. Claire Gordon put the Raiders on top near the end of the first, however, with a corner three.
Ursuline found itself at the free throw line often in the second. GG Banks and Sanai Johnson each hit a pair to help extend the lead to 17-12 before Sany’a Moody-Adams made a field goal, followed by a three from Makayla Sullivan to tie the score with 5:50 to go in the half.
Those would be the Vikings’ only points of the second, and the Raiders went on a run before halftime. A free throw from Naiya Murphy put Ursuline on top for good, and they scored twice more from the line before Katherine Lange made the team’s first field goal of the second quarter, a three-pointer from the top of the circle that extended the lead to 23-17. The lead at the half was 27-17.
The teams played a fairly even third quarter. Ursuline was without Banks for much of the third with foul trouble; she scored five of the Raiders’ eight points in the third before her departure. The Vikings, however, could cut the halftime deficit by just one point by the end of the third.
Banks and Jasmine Butler led the Raiders in the fourth quarter. Banks played as much defense as she could with four fouls, and she scored five points. Butler had several rebounds and turned those into eight points down low.
Banks finished with 16 points for Ursuline, and Butler had 12. The Raiders (1-0), who play their first seven games away from home, visit Archmere on Dec. 12 at 6 p.m.
For the Vikings, Bolden and Seda-Owens each scored eight. St. Elizabeth (0-1) host Padua on Dec. 10 at 6 p.m.
