OCEAN CITY — The Red Raider girls basketball team made quick work of the Highland Tartans on Tuesday evening in the first round of the NJSIAA South Jersey Group III tournament.
Ocean City, the No. 3 seed, opened with a bang, scoring the most points in the first quarter en route to shutting down Highland, the No. 14 seed, allowing their opponents only 3 points in the second half.
Avery Jackson led the Red Raiders with 12 points, Madelyn Adamson had 8 and A’yanna Morton contributed 7.
Seven Red Raiders scored in the game, including Hannah Cappelletti with 5, Marin Panico and Tori Vliet with 4 each, Taylor Wenner with 3 and Maddy Monteleone with 2.
The Red Raiders (17-8) outscored Highland 45-16.
“Every time we play, we just want to achieve our potential,” coach Michael Cappelletti said. “I really mean that. I thought they played like a team tonight and I’m really happy with the effort. Obviously there are always things to improve upon and we’re going to have to do that if we’re going to continue to get wins.”
In preparation for Thursday’s game, coach Cappelletti said the girls have to have a good practice Wednesday, “show up motivated and fight for each other out there. The coaches are fighting for them and the girls have to fight for the coaches. As long as we’re doing that, I have confidence that we’ll do whatever we need to do.”
On Thursday, Ocean City will host No. 6 Moorestown (17-8), which won its opening-round game 30-18 over No. 11 Cherry Hill West. Game time is 5 p.m.
If the girls get past Moorestown, they would face the winner of No. 2 Timber Creek (19-5) versus No. 7 Hammonton (15-9) on Saturday in the semifinals.
The South Jersey sectional finals are set for Monday.
Mustang girls win
The Mainland Regional High School girls, the No. 1 seed in the sectional, won their opener 74-31 over No. 16 Triton.
Mainland (24-2), which won the Cape-Atlantic League crown Saturday over Wildwood Catholic, hosts No. 9 Lacey Township on Thursday. Lacey beat No. 8 Pemberton 88-49 in the opening round.
Game time is 5 p.m.
Story and photos by David Nahan/SENTINEL
