Post-Season Play on Ocracoke
Despite going scoreless for over five minutes to start the final quarter, the girls led the whole way, sealing a second home match on Wednesday, against Plymouth. The 48 - 31 victory was the first ever non-conference post-season victory for a Dolphin team.
Roxboro Community School is a public charter school, with 600 middle and high school students. Wednesday's match against Plymouth will be a bigger challenge. They are known to press, and Coach Adam Burleson said they will certainly emphasis that in practice on Tuesday.
"It will be a very tough test against Plymouth. We could use the crowd," said Coach B.
Senior point guard Diana Perez said, "We just need to concentrate on running our offense and cleaning up our passes."
Next year, Ocracoke will join the Coastal 10 Conference, of which Plymouth is a part.
The Roxboro Bulldogs' smaller line up had no answer for Tideland Conference Player of the Year Lucy O'Neal, who had 12 rebounds, 5 blocks, 14 points, and shot 7-8 from the free throw line.
As the Bulldogs struggled against the Dolphin rebounding advantage, Perez broke long, picking up easy lay-ups to open up the early lead. Bulldog Danielle Holt got Roxboro on the scoreboard, and Alyssa Morris added a long pull up three.
Roxboro played aggressive defense, and moved the ball well on offense, but couldn't find the bucket on easy lay-ups or foul shots, where the team went 3 - 15 for the night. Their balanced attack was led by Cassidy Solomon and Morris, who both scored 7.
O'Neal and freshman Ariana Trejo moved particularly well without the ball for the Dolphins, and Alma Flores and Perez put the ball in the right place for easy baskets. Trejo shot 80% for the game and had 5 boards to complement her 8 points.
Alin Tellez fed beautifully to Abby Morris, who gets better each time she hits the floor. Morris' shot from 6 feet gave the Dolphins a 20-8 lead in the second quarter. Two more Perez lay ups helped Ocracoke open up a 20 point margin before Solomon broke the drought for Roxboro. The score was 30-18 at the half. Perez led all scorers with 22 points.
Even with O'Neal on the bench, the Dolphins continued to dominate the boards. Josie Winstead had 8 rebounds and scored 2 on a great put back. Katie O'Neal, plagued with early foul trouble, still added 5 rebounds, 3 steals, and 3 assists for her team.
In the third quarter, Lucy O'Neal handled the ball at the top of the key, scoring several times with textbook give and go's to Alma Flores on the wing. Morris took it coast to coast for Roxboro, and the Dolphin lead was 41 -27 going into the final quarter.
"It was a fast game," said Perez, who admitted fatigue was a factor in the low scoring fourth.
Ocracoke Current will post Wednesday's game time on our facebook page as soon as that information is known. Go Dolphins!
