By Lesley Graham
The Ocean City High School girls’ basketball team used even scoring and closeout defense Wednesday to defeat the Cedar Creek Pirates, 61-25.
Emma Finnegan, of Ocean City, led all scorers with 13 points.
With the win, Ocean City improved to 10-3, while Cedar Creek fell to 3-11.
Although the game got off to a stagnant start, the Red Raiders woke up four minutes into the first quarter to get the ball rolling. They used strong transitional passing, finding the open looks and finishing their shots.
On the defensive side of the ball, Ocean City had quick hands, causing Cedar Creek to make a bad pass or put up a tough shot.
“Once we got the energy going, then we did some good things. Good fast breaks and good decisions with the ball,” said Head Coach Paul Baruffi after the win.
At the end of the first quarter, Ocean City held an 18-7 advantage. In the second quarter, the team struggled a bit to get shots to fall, rushing some of their looks at the basket.
Luckily for the Red Raiders, they played outstanding defense to counterbalance a somewhat slow quarter offensively. At the end of the first half, Ocean City led the Pirates, 30-11.
Starting the second half, Ocean City used the clock to its advantage, taking time offensively to move the ball, find the open pass and execute the best shot option.
Although the Pirates struggled to get their own looks at the basket due to Ocean City’s stifling defense, they didn’t go down without a fight. Despite scoring only three points in the third quarter, they rallied in the fourth to drop 11 points, finishing strong.
In the fourth quarter, Ocean City had some younger players in the game who stood out with unselfish play and solid defense. The Red Raiders swarming defense led to steals in transition and they were able to convert them into easy layups on the other end.
Baruffi emphasized that the team’s success is due to its ability to spread the ball and play team basketball.
“There have been three 1,000 point-scorers from my 18 years. There’s been a lot of great players that didn’t score 1,000 points,” he said. “That’s not my priority. We are looking to put numbers up on the banner as a team, not as an individual.”
