OCHS girls rally to win conference basketball title – boys out of playoff picture with loss

Written by Tom Williams Friday, 10 February 2012 15:41

Ocean City High School’s girls basketball team won its fourth conference championship in the last six years on Thursday night when the Raiders rallied in the fourth period to defeat Middle Township, 35-31, in the Dixie Howell Memorial Gymnasium.

At the same time, in Cape May Court House, the OCHS boys struggled through a game when they made just four of 11 free throws and lost to Middle, 38-36. The loss allowed Middle to clinch second place in the Cape-Atlantic League’s National Conference and claim the final spot in the new CAL Playoffs.

Paul Baruffi’s girls entered the fourth quarter trailing, 29-24. But they shut down the Panthers, 11-2, in the final eight minutes for the win. The two teams are virtually tied for first place but OCHS has the tiebreakers in its favor.

Julia Duggan paced the Raiders with 15 points and Reilly Larkin scored 12. Lauryn Fields led Middle with 19 points.

In the boys game, John Bruno’s Raiders rallied to take a slim lead in the fourth period behind a strong second half by Matt Bosch and had many opportunities down the stretch to take the lead back. But they failed to convert.

Bosch finished with 14 points, despite missing more than 11 minutes of the first half in foul trouble. Dorrell Shelton led all scorers with 17 for Middle.

The OCHS girls play Camden Catholic on Saturday in the Future Stars at Mainland and travel to Absecon on Monday to play Holy Spirit. The Raider boys play Cherry Hill East on Saturday in the Olympic-Cape Challenge at St. Augustine Prep. The boys game with Holy Spirit has been moved from Monday to Wednesday.

Look for more on these games, and others, in the next edition of both The Ocean City and Upper Township Gazettes.