OCEAN CITY – In her second season as head coach of the girls basketball team at Ocean City High School, Trish Henry is ready to continue building upon her young roster.
The Red Raiders finished last year with a 7-18 record but got a lot of the younger players some vital game experience. Gabby Henry played in all 25 games for the Raiders in her sophomore season and was joined by five other underclassmen who appeared in at least 19 games.
Ocean City had some growing pains throughout the year, but coach Henry believed it was a necessary step to get the team where they want to be.
“The one thing you learn really quickly is that you cannot teach experience,” Henry said. “It comes with practice, and it comes with game situations. No matter what you do they need to be on the court and against an opponent to react to tough situations.”
Madelyn Adamson led the Raiders in scoring as a junior last year and provided a consistent presence on the court for the newer players. She scored 249 points and led the team in assists as the main facilitator on offense.
Unfortunately, Adamson will be unavailable for at least the start of her senior season after she suffered an injury earlier this year that kept her from playing her senior season of field hockey. Henry said Adamson is out “an extended period of time.”
The huge blow comes alongside the departure of McKenna Chisholm, who graduated in the spring after she dominated under the basket for Ocean City. She was a constant problem for other teams with her rebounding and defensive capabilities.
With last season’s leaders of the team off the court, coach Henry said the Raiders will lean on the players who got significant playing time last season.
Gabby Henry leads the junior class in games played and had more than 80 rebounds a season ago. Fellow juniors Kaia Chew and Allie Hudson are also in line to play significant minutes for the Raiders.
“We have three sophomores this year that have varsity experience that we are excited about,” coach Henry said. “The main one is Marley Ostrander, who was a starter for us. Casey Adamson helped us out throughout the year and Cecilia Mirsky, who came on strong late in the year.”
Ostrander started a lot of games as a freshman last year. She put pressure on the defense with her quick movements toward the basket and picked up on the speed of high school basketball quickly.
After taking a year off from basketball to focus on her soccer career, the multi-sport star Naomi Nnewihe is back on the Ocean City roster. The senior was a star soccer player for Ocean City and scored 60 goals in her last two seasons, helping lead her team to the South Jersey sectional finals.
She last played basketball during the 2022-2023 season when she played in every game and hauled in nearly 100 rebounds. Nnewihe can help bring a senior presence to the court along with strong rebounding that the Raiders lost with Chisholm’s graduation.
Ocean City has three games before Christmas and will not need to travel. All are at home. The Raider’s season opener was Tuesday evening against Lower Cape May Regional after the Sentinel sports section went to press.
Ocean City’s next game is on Dec. 19 against Hammonton High School. Tip off is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. The team’s final game before the small Christmas break is on Dec. 22 against Holy Spirit High School at 5:15 p.m.
All the games will be held at Ocean City High School before the Raiders embark on a five-game road trip after the break.
Asked what she wanted to see from the team in their first couple of games, coach Henry said, “We are hoping to just gel together. It’s been a while since some of the girls played together. Some of them have not played with each other yet so the focus is just to gel and get used to playing on the same court as their teammates. Another focus is to of course just work hard. It’s the only thing you can do at this stage of the season.”
– By WILLIAM TRUITT/For the Sentinel