Junior Jade Cheek poured in a team-high 24 points and senior Sydnei McCaskill added 20 more as DP Women’s Basketball rolled to a 77-41 victory over Montverde Academy in their final pre-season tune-up. DP held a six-point lead, 19-13, after the first quarter but blew the game open in the second, outscoring the Eagles, 20-7, to take a 39-20 lead at the half. Senior Arianna Cumbie registered 15 points, freshman Kyla Allison tallied eight, sophomore Ciara Cumbie pitched in seven points and junior I’munique Green netted three. The Panthers will open up regular season play November 12th at home vs. Apopka.
Despite outshooting the visiting Gateway Panthers, 13-7, DP couldn’t seem to find the net in a 1-0 defeat. With the score tied, 0-0, sophomore Matthew Babin gave DP their best scoring opportunity late in the second half with a shot that was deflected just over the crossbar. In the 72nd minute, Gateway put in the game-winner as DP dropped to 0-2 on the season.
Eighth-ranked Women’s Volleyball upset host Boone with a four-game victory over the state’s second-ranked team that shook up the State Tournament brackets. DP (20-8) came back to take game one, 25-22, in what would be seem like a blowout compared to the next three. Game two also went to DP, 26-24, but Boone, which had defeated DP twice during the regular season, fought back to take a 26-24 win in game three. After nearly sweeping the match but expending a tremendous amount of energy in a tough loss in the third game, the Panthers seemed to lose momentum early in game four, falling behind, 15-9. The Panthers clawed their way back into contention as they utilized a 9-3 run to tie the match at 18-18, forcing a Boone timeout. The teams exchanged points but the Panthers, down 24-23, couldn’t take the lead until they rallied for the final three points to close out a 26-24 victory. Statistically, the Panthers were led by Hannah Schaible (six kills, 16 digs, six blocks), Michelle Maki(11 digs, three blocks, seven kills), Rachel Sawyer (eight kills, 13 digs) and Briana Jackson (28 assists, eight digs). DP advanced to the Regional Championship game Saturday at third-ranked Lake Mary at 2:00 pm.
