Woodbridge girls earn historic win over A.I.

Altia Anderson finished with 14 points, 18 rebounds and six assists as Woodbridge downed A.I. du Pont 43-33 on Tuesday night in the DIAA Girls Basketball Tournament.

BRIDGEVILLE – It had been a long time since Woodbridge had won a game in the DIAA Girls Basketball Tournament.

Like maybe forever.

Blue Raiders coach Emilio Perry thinks the school may have won a postseason game in 1970, but the tournament didn’t start until 1973. Whatever the case may be, Woodbridge made some history Tuesday night with a 43-33 home victory over A.I. du Pont in the opening round.

“To have a home [playoff] game was something the girls really aspired to at the beginning of the season,” Perry said. “The girls really wanted this. It got close, but that’s expected in a playoff game.”

The 11th-seeded Blue Raiders (15-7) survived a couple of second-half runs by the 22nd-seeded Tigers (10-11) to advance to a second-round game at No. 6 Caravel at 7 p.m. Thursday.

Junior Yasmin Hill led Woodbridge with 17 points, including four 3-pointers. But the real key was Altia Anderson, a 6-foot-2 senior who has signed with Marquette.

Anderson made only three field goals, but hit 8 of 10 free throws and dominated in other areas. She finished with 14 points, 18 rebounds, six assists and three steals. Anderson often fed sophomore Mykle Crippen, who went 5-for-5 from the floor to score 10 points.

“All I really had to do was pass it, because they were in the open spots,” Anderson said.

Hill hit a pair of bombs, and Anderson went coast to coast with a rebound and found Crippen for two fast-break scores as the Blue Raiders surged to a 14-4 lead. A.I. du Pont crept closer, but another 3 from Hill and a layup by Tykeya Nelson off an Anderson assist sent Woodbridge into halftime up 23-15.

Lauryn Griffin, who led the Tigers with 17 points and 11 rebounds, drove for two short jumpers and nailed a 3 from the left wing to pull A.I. within 26-24 with 2:52 left in the third quarter.

But the Blue Raiders responded with an 11-3 surge, with Anderson passing to Crippen for two more layups to make it 37-27 with 5:57 to play.

Woodbridge faces a tough task at Caravel, where the Blue Raiders lost 71-42 in their regular-season finale on Feb. 23.

“We’ve got to be together,” Anderson said. “We’ve got to play as one, not as five or 10. We’ve got to play as one, communicate on defense and move the ball around a lot more than we did when we played them before.”

Contact Brad Myers at bmyers@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter: @BradMyersTNJ