By: Neil Hay
It certainly wasn’t their "A" game that the Peddie girls’ basketball team had on display last Saturday.
Whatever it was, however, it was good enough if just barely to defeat St. Elizabeth’s, the number two ranked team in Delaware, by a 43-42 final score. The game was played at Archbishop Carroll High School as part of the Blue Chip Showcase.
Peddie needed a fourth-quarter spurt to put away St. Elizabeth’s. Down 21-16 at the half and 29-25 after three periods, the Falcons found the will to get ahead and secure their 13th win of the season against three defeats.
"They were a pretty good team," said Coach Sean Casey of St. Elizabeth’s, now 15-3. "I wouldn’t necessarily classify it as a good game. We were fortunate to win. We didn’t play well, we didn’t play particularly smart. Our defensive intensity was not where it should be. Our kids have to realize they have to play at a certain level of intensity. They can’t turn it on and off. St. Elizabeth’s played harder than we did, at least early in the game."
Peddie finally found its good groove in the final quarter and took a modest lead. But late turnovers helped the team from Delaware to stick around and keep it close.
St. Elizabeth’s is led by Khadijah Rushdan, the ranking Delaware state player of the year, who tallied a game-high 24 points. Said Casey, "We need to work harder. She is very strong, a very athletic forward. She was very effective."
Casey’s plan was not to stop her individually, but play good team defense to contain her and her teammates. In that respect it worked as Rushdan was the only player to score in double figures. Late in the game Peddie made some adjustments on the defensive end that worked. As for the Peddie offense, "nobody played well," said Casey as his players combined for 11 of 40 from the floor.
"We missed from all over, close and far."
Bridgette Mitchell and Devon Carey were Peddie’s top scorers with 12 and 11 points, respectively.
Although it was a Saturday morning (11:30) road game, Casey denied that his team was fatigued. "I don’t think so. We just didn’t play well. We’ll see if we can get it together" when the Falcons resumed play yesterday against second-ranked Shabazz High School of Newark at home.
"If you can’t get excited for Shabazz, you can’t get excited for anybody," said Casey, looking for a more spirited effort than he saw against St. Elizabeth’s.
