Delcastle Gets into Final Four After Tough Game with Sanford
May, Robbins & Parker Lead the Way to a 44 - 40 Win
by Jim Charles
March 10, 2009
The News Journal's pre-season #1 pick, Caravel Academy is out. DGB.com's pre-season #1 pick, Hodgson Vo-Tech is out. A team not many in November thought would get very far, Ursuline Academy, is going to the Semi-Finals. It's been a topsy-turvy, transitional year. But one team nobody missed were the Cougars of Delcastle. And how could you miss them? A legitimate D1 player in Jaquetta May, a quick-as-lighting, dangerous guard in Ashley Robbins (one of the better defenders in the state), and a real presence in the paint who gets things done and might very well be the glue on this team, Bianca Parker. The rest of the Delcastle lineup cannot be dismissed either and includes the versatile Hsu sisters, Lindsay & Krista, and three-point shooting ace, Maria Talarowski. When you play the Lady Cougars, you better have your running shoes on. They are masters of a "strike early and often" up-tempo offense.
And then there's Sanford. There are more than a couple of parallels between these two teams. Sanford, too, can turn a game into a track meet with guards like Amber Genwright, Andrea Hines, Alexa Webb, and Naiesha Brown. Handling just about all of the frontcourt duties for the Warriors is senior, Allie Kenney. And this great talent matchup produced a very good game -- one that ended with Sanford only two baskets behind. What was the difference? Perhaps nothing more than home court advantage. Or maybe it was May's offensive output, which was 3 points better than anyone on the opposite bench. The fact is, you have to start looking into the details with a game like this where everyone was amped up and a ticket to the Final Four was on the line. And an easy answer just doesn't present itself. Both teams played brilliant basketball. There was no lack of effort on either side.
So, at the end of the night, we simply say, good going, Delcastle! You're going to The Bob! And to Sanford, you guys played excellent ball all year and have nothing to hang your heads about. With your relative youth, things are looking very, very good for you next season. You will get other tries at this.
Individual stats are included at the end of the photos in the boxscore.
Jaquetta May came up with some big plays for the Cougars.
Naiesha Brown played like a woman possessed all game long. It seemed that her strong suit was in breaking up Delcastle plays.
It's a shame Sanford was eliminated. I looked forward to watching freshman Amber Genwright fly up and down the court at The Bob. The good news? Got three more years of her!
Lindsay Hsu drew the unenviable task of guarding the very quick Genwright and props to her for doing a good job.
Sanford senior, Allie Kenney, sets and delivers a pick on Ashley Robbins for the benefit of Andrea Hines.
Before college ball, Jaquetta May still has a little more work to do at The Bob.
Alexa Webb takes it straight to the hoop.
One more look at the athleticism of May.
*** The purpose of this page, like the rest of this site, is to promote girls basketball in the State of Delaware. This is hard to do if individual players cannot be singled out.
However, I will honor all requests by players or parents to remove their/their daughters' names and/or images from this review. I will also gladly correct any misspelled names, or add names where now I list only a player uniform number. Just email me. *** DelGirlsHoops@aol.comJim Charles