OCEAN CITY – The Ocean City Red Raiders girls basketball team put on a show in their Cape-Atlantic League tournament second round match-up with Cedar Creek on Thursday, Feb. 9, winning 47-17.
“It feels really good,” Raider Avery Jackson said. “It’s giving us a lot of confidence going into the playoffs. As we know, this league is as tough as it gets. We have to come ready to play every night.”
“The kids had a great week at practice,” head coach Stephanie Gaitley said. “I could tell yesterday that they were ready and you can kind of get the vibe from that. They were waiting for this game and I think it showed on the court.”
The Raiders particularly dominated in the second and third quarters, outscoring the Pirates 32-6 in the middle frames before giving way to their reserve players in the fourth.
“This team brings the energy every single day,” Jackson said. “Our coach tells us every game at halftime, ‘It’s 0-0, fresh start.’ That’s our approach every game.”
Ocean City played suffocating defense throughout while switching up their looks as they prepare for postseason play.
“We came ready to play defensively and offensively,” Jackson said. “Our defense leads to our offense. Every game we have to come in defensive-minded, that’s always the goal for us.”
“We want to get ready for the playoffs so we figured they were the type of team we could play zone against,” Gaitley said. “Some teams we just go man against, it just depends on who we’re playing how we’ll play. But we wanted to try a few things and we had a few days to practice. This is the first week in a while where we haven’t had four or five games so we were able to get some good practices in.”
The Raiders came out of the gate cold but were getting the shots they wanted; it was just a matter of time before the offense got rolling.
“We started off a little slow,” Gaitley said. “We got a lot of great looks, just couldn’t connect. I think our defense set the tone early.”
“It’s about picking each other up,” Jackson said. “Sometimes it’s not your day. But a game is not decided in a quarter. You come back the next quarter, or the next half and you look to each other to hit those shots. In the end everyone shot really well and we came together.”
While the shots eventually began to fall, they also helped themselves with a number of transition buckets thanks to their tight defense.
“I think we defended great,” Jackson said. “We switched some stuff up between zone and man. We eventually found our groove with it really well. We take a lot of pride in our press, getting steals early, getting deflections, it all leads to points. We work on it a lot.”
Jackson and Madelyn Adamson finished with 10 apiece to lead the way.
Naomi Nnewihe contributed 6 points along with her stellar defense.
“She just is always around the ball,” Gaitley said.
Tori Vliet and A’yanna Morton each chipped in 5.
McKenna Chisolm added 4, Callie Smith 3, Allie Hudson and Maddy Monteleone 2 each.
“We got to play everybody, which is great,” Gaitley said. “I think it was a great team win.”
The Raiders were knocked out of the league tournament two days later by Wildwood Catholic.
Jackson led all scorers with 14 in the loss.
Adamson finished with 7, Nnewihe 3, Vliet and Morton 2 each.
Kaci Mikulski led Wildwood Catholic with 13, Ava Vogdes just behind her with 12.
The Raiders, the No. 2 seed in South Jersey Group III, now look to gear up for their first round Group III playoff meeting with Seneca Monday, Feb. 20.
“I’m confident in this team, I’m confident in our coach,” Jackson said. “Our coaches prepare us so well – studying film, studying players and how they play. It all goes into wins.”
The Raiders have had an excellent first season under Gaitley.
“They’ve really bonded and we’ve really seen the culture grow this whole year,” Gaitley said.
“I couldn’t ask for a better program,” Jackson said. “I wouldn’t want to wear any other jersey or be a part of any other school. These coaches have done the world for us. Everyone on this team feels so included from our managers to every player, every coach. We’re all a family here, we’re sisters. I wouldn’t change a thing. There’s downs, there’s ups but in the end I wouldn’t change a thing.”
“All five of our coaches played at Ocean City,” Gaitley said. “It’s great coming back to a place that we love. It’s great to come back and give back something. I’m excited to take the next step, but each step gets a little harder so we have to get a little better each day.”
By KYLE McCRANE/Sentinel Sports
