The Indian River Lady Indians basketball team hit a new low this week, losing consecutive games to Cape Henlopen and Sussex Tech by an average of 32 points as their record sunk to 3-8.
Coastal Point • JESSE PRYOR
Samantha Pietryak's jumper, clears an outstretched defenders arm in a losing effort.The Lady Indians’ 70-42 and 55-19 losses to the Cape Henlopen and Sussex Tech, respectively, also marked their fourth straight loss to the Henlopen North, starting with the Milford game and a boiling point.
“We came out flat and had a lack of communication,” Lady Indians head coach Summer Chorman said.
“We started bickering, and pretty soon they’re up 20 points, pretty quick. And we just couldn’t close the gap,” she continued. “They’re a strong fourth-quarter team.”
The Lady Ravens (5-8) actually didn’t score one point in the fourth quarter. Their offense thrived behind a game-high 17 points by forward Brittany Griffin, who hit two of her team’s six three-pointers.
But defensively, the Lady Ravens thwarted the Indians with a series of traps.
“Last year, they seemed a little bit more organized,” Lady Ravens head coach Wes Townsend said. “They had some guards that could penetrate and make some things happen. But this time we surprised them with a lot of different traps.”
Indian River quickly fell behind Sussex Tech 23-2 in the first quarter and headed into halftime down 42-8.
After three quarters, Sussex Tech led 55-12. And apart from the fourth quarter, where Indian River out-scored the Lady Ravens 7-0, it was clear why they crumbled as a team.
“The girls’ game — unlike the boys’ game — isn’t dominated by the individual game,” Chorman said. “We play a team game, and when one or two players get frustrated it travels through the team.”
“To a degree, that kind of killed us,” Chorman concluded.
Having gone through a rough spell themselves already this season, losing seven in a row, the Ravens’ Townsend offered some advice on the matter.
“Times like these are more of a teaching thing,” he said. “Everything that goes wrong — you have to take it back to practice and fix what went wrong.”
“Right now, we’re at the point where everybody has gotten to know the system and everyone is playing together,” Townsend said of his own team’s game.
“We’re just trying to keep our confidence and intensity up and get better every game,” he continued. “Nothing makes me happier than that.”
Indian River will open up with consecutive home games against Delmar and Caesar Rodney to round out January, starting Jan. 29.