16 - On-Line Newspaper Archives of Ocean City

OCEAN CITY SENTINEL SPORTS
THURSDAY, JANUARY 16, 2003
Lady Raiders off to best start in a decade
Ocean City girls basketball is 8-1, working to overcome the loss of standout Catie LaRue
> By CHARLIE WOOD
Ocean City Sentinel
Off to their best start in a decade with
an 8-1 record through Monday, Jan. 13,
Ocean City High School's Lady Raider
basketball team must now deal with the
adversity of losing one of its premier
players.
Senior Catie LaRue, who has already
accepted a scholarship to play for coach
Stephanie Vanderslice Gaitley at Long
^Island University next year, suffered a
broken nose in practice on Monday, Jan.
6, and will be out of the lineup for about
four weeks, according to Ocean City
coach Paul Baruffi.
Prior to her injury, LaRue was averaging
13 points per game through the first
five games of this season.
Her return will probably come early in
February when the Lady Raiders also
expect senior point guard Rachel
Constantine to return from an ACL
injury which happened last summer.
"I feel really, really bad for Catie, and
Rachel," Baruffi said. "We feel bad for
the person, but as a team we have to play
through it. We have to move on."
Constantine has not played at all this
year, and LaRue missed all three of last
week's games when Ocean City beat
previously undefeated Vineland, 42-29,
beat Buena 69-18 and then nipped testy
Lower Cape May 50-46.
"I told the girls this is an opportunity to
step up, and in the first two games without
Catie, they've all stepped up,"
Baruffi said after the Buena win. "They
want playing time, now they're getting it,
and they're doing what they need to do."
In the win over Vineland on Jan. 7, sen-
ior forward Ashley DuRoss led a balanced
attack with 10 points. Her sister
Kaitlyn, a sophomore, had nine, senior
Mary Rybicki had eight and junior
Megan Larsen added seven.
Playing at home against Buena on Jan.
9,' the same day LaRue underwent surgery
for her broken nose, the Lady
Raiders completely dismantled Buena
led by a career high of 16 points from
Rybicki.
Buena scored just two points in the second
quarter and did not score in the
fourth quarter, as Ocean City improved
to 6-1.
The Lady Raiders' revved up defense
had a lot to do with Buena's inability to
score, as they forced 14 turnovers led by
three steals each from Rybicki and senior
Run Treen. Seniors Kristen Gibb and
Kaitlyn Lawlor added two steals each,
and Lawlor added 11 points.
"It was tough finding out that Catie
Wasn't coming back, and now everyone
has to step up," Rybicki said after the
Buena game. "Catie is a hard loss, and
Please see Lady Raiders, page B2
Ocean City wrestlers trade leads before falling to Clan
Galante,
Perone
leading
Raiders
< ? Tfc^
Ocean City's Mike Galante closes in on a pin over Vineland's Hector Hernandez in last Wednesday's match at Ocean City High School.
i • •? > Raiders
> .
battle,
but Tigers ice the
game at foul line
By CHARLIE WOOD
Ocean City Sentinel
OCEAN CITY - They got the
intensity cranked up about as
high as they could get it last
Friday night, Jan. 10, in the
Ocean City Red Raider gym, but
in the final two minutes, it took
some calm, cool foul shooting by
Lower Cape May's Tigers to ice
the game.
Ocean City fought back in the
fourth quarter to cut Lower's
lead to four points, but the Tigers
hit 14 of 18 chances from the
charity stripe, including six of six
by Matt Betz to clinch a 54-43
win. ' - •
Ocean City took the lead briefly
in the game's opening minute on
3-pointer by sophomore point
guard Phil Schaffer, but Betz hit
a 3-pointer about 20 seconds
later to tie the score and Lower
never trailed again.
Still, through the remaining 30
minutes Ocean City was relentless
in its pursuit.
"Lower Cape May is as good a
coached team as you're going to
see in the Cape Atlantic League,"
said Ocean City coach John
Bruno. "They play hard, and
you've got to match their intensity,
which I thought we did."
Lower sat back in a 3-2 zone for
the first two minutes, but then
David Nahan/Ocean City Sentinel
Ocean City's Micah Rolls (No. 12)
gets ready to shoot in Monday
night's game at Millville. Rolls has
been pounding the boards for
rebounds this season.
switched to full-court pressure
arid a -man-to-man defense, and
the race was on, helter skelter, up
and down the floor.
"We have some fast guards, and
we like to extend our defense to
try to create some transition,"
said Lower's coach Pat Holden.
"We're not prolific scorers, so
defensively we've got to keep
teams under 45 or 50 points if we
expect to win."
Ocean City kept the gap to within
two or three points until midway
through the second quarter
when Betz ran off seven straight
points, and Tim Ruffzng closed
out the first half with four more
to open a 25-16 lead.
Lower could likely have
extended its lead even more,
except for the work of Micah
Rolls, who grabbed six defensive
rebounds in the first half to deny
the Tigers second chances.
"We were in a situation where
we had a lot of mismatches, but I
thought for a small team we
rebounded well," Bruno said. "I
thought we could beat them down
the floor. We had some tough mismatches,
and I thought if we
could speed up the game a little
bit it would be to our advantage."
Ocean City picked up the intensity
in the third quarter as
Antwaine Campo scored on a
wrap around underneath.
Phil Schaffer ran the floor for
tw6 more off a defensive rebound
by Rolls; and Jack Nixon drilled
a trey off an assist from Matt
Schaffer to cut the lad to 27-26.
But Betz answered with another
trey, his third, and Andre
Please see Raiders, page B10 |
David Nahan/Oceari City Sentinel
By CHARLIE WOOD
• Ocean City Sentinel
In a bid to wrest the lead away
from Ocean City, the powerful
Vineland Fighting Clan made an
18-point run, but Raider senior
Bob Skellenger and then freshman
Josh Hawn stopped them
cold.
Ocean City's Red Raiders had
the old high school gym in a
clamor at their home opener last
Wednesday, Jan. 8, as they
surged past Vineland to take a
surprising 18-6 lead after the
first four matches.
But the Clan fought back with
four straight wins and 18 points
to take theiead for the first time
all night, 24-18, until Skellenger
intervened. .
The evening's matches started
at 135 pounds and, wrestling in
tiuj heavyweight - class,
Skellenger went right to work
with a take down and subsequent
pin just 47 seconds into
the match to even the score at
24-24.
It was the third time the score
had been tied, and this time the
Raiders' freshman rookie, Josh
Hawn, at 103, broke it up with a
dramatic takedown in overtime
to win. a 7-5 decision, giving his
team a 27-24 lead with four
matches left.
There was hope, but if faded
quickly.
Please see Wrestlers, page B8
NJSIAA sinks girls
swim relays at states
By CHAHLIE WOOD
Ocean City Sentinel
of d rt'ceul ruliliiK by
the NJSIAA, New Jprbey's governing
body for high school
.sports, the Occ:*n City High
.school'» girls rela> svnat team*
will not be allowed to compete in
the tittle chiimpions urid inrls. Instead
there is one c,o-ed team, which
has been the case for a long, long
lime
And for a Inn*?, lon^ tune, it
didn't matter Although competing
agamst boys all season, girls,
could rcht at-surtsd that when
1 the ftate meet rolled around,
those who had aualifymg rimes
would compoto .iyaint>t only
' siri* in the relays as well a& the
individual events
The rt-ccni ruling changes
that.
i If a btihuol doesn't sponsor a
f-nrls swim tejin, then the gjrls
can'l enter ihu rulays,." .say*
NJSIAA executive Cniol
, Par-iOns, who over>,et:& swtm-
And, Prf>*ion e.\pl;ti'is, in
dnothct inteies-nny twist the
JVJSIAA considers co-ed teams
to be boys teams for purposes of
determining who goes to state
relays, «veh if there arc tnore
girls on the team ,
However, she adds, co-ed |
teams could commit as a girts
learn for purposes of state
relays, and of course that would
knock out the
boy« from the
relays
Girts can still
enter individual events at the
state meet, according to
Parsons. Any school can send
individuals to the stare meet, as
Jong us those individuals have
qualifying times.
The ruling, which was
approved by the NJSIAA's
Program Review Committee as
well as its Executive Committee,
composed of an eaual number
of superintendents, principals
and athlete directors, seems to
be a classic case of - "if it ain't
broke, why fix it?"
As far as> Ocean City High
School's girls are concerned, it
sure looks like it's broke now.
In all fairness, the NJSIAA,
which is> deeply committed to
providing positive opportunities
for New Jersey's young people,
seldom makes 3n irrational decision.
And there i.s d rationale fur this
ruling, according to Parsons,
who in this case is the administrator
and not the decisionmates?
"Co-ed swim teams only occur
in a small portion of South
Jersey." she explains "And the
regulation should be in effect for
the majority."
So the majority ,
in this case, and the South
Pleaso. see Sink, page B2