By Bernard W. Carr
On Sunday, March 9, the Caravel Academy Buccaneers varsity girls’ basketball team became the 2024-2025 DIAA State champions by defeating the St. Elizabeth Vikings, 53-37. It is the Bucs’ second championship in three years. They won the trophy in 2022. This time around, the Caravel team presented the winning trophy to third year head coach Larry Banks.
Banks has moved up the ranks at Caravel after first being hired as a middle school girls’ coach in 2001. This is his first state championship. Banks has ties to the local community as he is a 1986 graduate of Woodbridge High School. Assistant coach Anthony Horne is a 1988 Woodbridge graduate. While at Woodbridge, Banks lettered in basketball, football, and baseball. He played the guard position and averaged 10 points and eight assists. Horne played basketball at the small forward position, and was a member of 1987 team that went all the way to the DIAA boys’ basketball tournament championship game.
Caravel assistant coach Anthony Horne, left, and head coach Larry Banks are all smiles while holding the DIAA girls’ basketball state tournament trophy. Photo by Bernard W. Carr
After his hire in 2001,Banks brought along Horne as an assistant. Banks has a remarkable coaching resume. It includes eight years as middle school girls’ coach, with six Final Four appearances, three years as a JV girls’ coach, two years as JV boys’ coach, two years as associate head coach in women’s basketball at Del Tech, head coach of the Del Tech men’s basketball program, assistant coach at Caravel for one year, and head coach at Caravel for three years. Additionally, during his tenure as head coach, his teams have participated in one final four, and last year were the tournament runner ups.
After the game, a humbled Banks, stated, “Words cannot express how I feel. Jubilation….to be mentioned amongst some of the greats. Relief that the seniors got the opportunity to go out on top. A sense of accomplishment knowing all the hard work and dedication needed, not only from the players, but my coaches, administration, and the parents.”
Caravel came into the game seeded number one. In the their journey to the championship game, they defeated number 16 Hodgson, 67-27, in the second round; number eight seeded Padua, 56-27, in the quarterfinals; and number five seeded Ursuline, 58-54, in the semifinals.
The Buccaneers started slowly in the championship, missing numerous shots and committing several turnovers. St. Elizabeth scored first, and led 2-0, until Caravel’s Brycelynn Stryckning made a three-pointer. Caravel’s largest lead was 21 points late in the fourth quarter. They were led by Chasity Wilson, who had a game-high 17 points, five rebounds, two assists, two steals, and one blocked shot. The team finished the season with a 21-3 overall record.
Coach Banks felt that the team accomplished its mission. “Last year, the disappointment of not being able to complete the mission stuck in the back of my mind, more so as a lesson learned. This year was all about completing the mission. The kids had enough fire and motivation, so they didn’t need extra from me. Our game plan was to have the team play together, more importantly, share the basketball. Defensively, don’t gamble, make them earn everything. Offensively, let’s make their defense shift and look to get our high/low in the post going. At half-time, I told them to stick to the plan and push the tempo and make them get out of that zone. We wanted to win each quarter and we accomplished that.”
Caravel will lose five seniors to graduation, so Banks is taking a wait and see attitude about next year’s team. “We now must develop the younger kids and mold them into the player we know they can be. There’s a lot of opportunities here for players who want to be a part of a culture that does things the right way,” he said.
