A few possessions later Sydney Austin took the ball the length of the floor, was fouled, and calmly sank two free throws.
Sydney's poise and talent comes as no surprise to long-time followers of Dolphin basketball. The team never looked back.
The balanced attack was led by MacKenzie Keith and Karla Perez, who alternated at point. On offense, the Dolphin girls moved to help the player with the ball, kept their hands ready to catch, and spaced the floor better than some college teams I've watched play this season. They smartly found the open player, and were generous with assists.
Ariana Trejo, Josie Winstead and Stacey O'Neal positioned themselves well inside and looked first to the basket, but didn't force shots. Solid rebounding led to second chance points.
Their merciless full court press at the beginning of the second half caused multiple turnovers by the Wildcat girls, who fumbled the ball and passed erratically.
The aggressive and focused Dolphin team led 20 - 5 at the end of the 3rd quarter.
Their second team gained valuable playing time during the final quarter, and the Dolphins chalked up their eighth victory of the season, 22 -11. (Their only loss--by 6 points--was to a JV team of 9th and 10th graders).
"Man, we dominated them!" said Dolphin fan Chandler O'Neal.
The middle school boys played tough against a quick and sure-footed Columbia team. "They gave it a 100% effort and played excellent defense," said coach Jason Wells.
The Wildcats blocked a few Dolphin shots early in the game and took the lead with confident moves into the lane.
The boys pushed the ball inside to Dalton Kalna, who looked for the open player as the defense collapsed. A quick cut and baseline floater by Waylon Underwood tied the game at 8.
Matteus Gilbert made a difficult off balance shot to tie the game 13 -13 just before the half.
Full court pressure made the difference in the game, as it had in the girls' contest. Only this time it was Columbia delivering the punishment. The Dolphins didn't execute as well as they have in practice against a press, said Jason. Easy shots from steals put the Wildcats up 21 -16 in the third quarter.
Kyle Tillett is one of the smaller players on the floor, but he pulled down two important rebounds to help keep the Dolphins in it. The fluid moves and solid ball control of Evin Caswell kept the margin from growing. He was the Dolphin high scorer with 8 points.
Dalton played with increased confidence later in the game, catching lobs, keeping the ball above
his head and adding points to the board.
Every time the Dolphins scored, Wildcat #14 Jandre Spencer had an answer. A great drive and finger roll was followed with a turn around jumper from just inside the free throw line.
The Dolphins stepped up their intensity and mounted a comeback with 2 minutes left, and the crowd for both the home and visiting teams made some noise. Columbia fans left home at 10:30 this morning, caught the 1 p.m. ferry, and wouldn't get home until after 9 at night, said Carolyn, who made the trip to support her daughter. Welcome to Dolphin basketball.
Several outside shots by the home team swirled the rim and bounced out. Hopes were further dashed when Evin, responsible for much of the ball handling as well as scoring, fouled out with 41.5 seconds left. The final score was Columbia 33, Ocracoke 25.
Coach Jason praised his team for their defensive effort, and noted that their 8 of 22 free throw shooting could have made a difference in the game.
Full stats for Dolphins basketball are on maxpreps.com. Please note that since maxpreps only includes JV and Varsity stats, Ocracoke middle school games are listed as JV stats.