November 24, 2014
By Peter Vankevich
The Ocracoke Lady Dolphins basketball team pulled a stunning upset Saturday, Nov 22 at Cape Hatteras, beating the First Flight Nighthawks, 49-24 in the nonconference Tournament of the Beaches. This was a particularly significant win since they lost to the same team last Tuesday on their opening game, 60-48.
On Friday playing in Kill Devil Hills, they lost to Currituck County Knights in overtime. Behind throughout the game, the Lady Dolphins rallied in the fourth quarter to end regulation play with a 47-47 tie. The Knights dominated the overtime, outscoring them 13 to 1 and the final score 60-48. The Knights’ Amanda Gerni led all scorers with 28 points. .
The Ocracoke boys’ varsity teams fell to their much larger rivals in this tournament. On Friday at Kill Devil Hills, the Currituck County Knights beat them 55-38. Saturday’s game at Cape Hatteras High was a rematch with First Flight who won 76-32. This was a similar outcome to their opening game against them on Tuesday, losing 72-31.
Boys’ coach Dave Allewalt who is installing a new system, noted that this a young basketball squad. “It is always tough to replace 4 starters from last year’s team, but I feel this group is capable of putting together a solid year,” he said. “We have no seniors on this years’ squad. So the players will be together for the next two years.
“So far, the players are doing a nice job trying to figure out each of their roles and how it can help our team find success. The chemistry will eventually click and when it does, this team will be fun to watch.”
The teams have started the season playing against two division 2A monster schools (size-wise). Currituck County has approximately 1,100 students in grades nine through 12; First Flight, 800. Ocracoke? Grades nine through 12 this year have a total of 40 students. Last season, the boys’ team beat First Flight 52-41.
The next games will be at home, Tuesday Dec. 2, against the Cape Hatteras Hurricanes, Lady Dolphins tip off at 4:30 p.m., and the boys’ game will be at approximately 6 p.m. These two games will be broadcast on WOVV, 90.1 FM on the island and wovv.org online.
