By Peter Vankevich
December 14, 2014
Note: This article has been updated to reflect a change in the schedule of games this week. Next home game will be Friday against Creswell, 4:30 girls, 6 p.m. boys.
The Lady Dolphins (6-2), continued their impressive basketball play Saturday (Dec. 13), beating the Gateway Christian Crusaders 48-36 in the school’s packed gym to win the four-team holiday basketball tournament.
Jumping to a 15-2 first quarter lead, they led 29-10 at halftime. With such a comfortable lead, Coach Adam Burleson gave the entire team valuable playing time in the second half. Sydney Austin led all scorers with sixteen points.
To get to the finals, the girls had to beat the First Flight Night Hawks, which they did on Friday evening in a much tougher game, 64-54. Going into the fourth quarter with a slim 42-40 lead, the girls outscored the Hawks 22-14 points in that quarter to grab the win.
This was their second consecutive victory over the Hawks after falling to them 60-54 in the opening game of the season. The only other loss has been against another Division 2-A team, the Currituck County Knights, 60-48.
The boys team suffered a heart-breaking overtime loss on Friday to the Gateway Christian Crusaders when Devon Sexton hit a three-pointer with two seconds to go. Evin Caswell and Matteus Gilbert had strong games scoring 18 and 15 points respectively.
In the consolation game Saturday, the boys team lost to First Flight 79-50. Evin Caswell was high scorer of the game with 23 points, beating out the Hawks 3-point shooting specialist Jack Konstanzer, 22 points with 4 three-pointers.
Matteus Gilbert hit two three-pointers to end with 10 points. This was the third time this season that they played this much-larger Division 2-A team (8-2) in non-conference play, all with similar scores. Athletic Director Charles Temple noted that they boys team (1-7) is young and they will continue to improve as they gain more real-game experience.
The Greenbrier Gators (6-3) captured the boys’ tournament, easily beating Gateway 58-42 in the final game of the tournament. On Friday, they dominated First Flight 100-76.
Many visitors enjoyed the island for this tournament.
“The island hospitality has been wonderful,” said Greenbrier’s boys coach Donald Hand, adding that the team enjoyed playing here and hope to return.
The next games will be at home. Tuesday’s (Dec. 16), game against the Mattamuskeet Lakers has been postponed.
On Friday, the Creswell Tigers visit the island, girls game at 4:30 and boys at 6 p.m. Win/loss stats for these teams are not available.
All games will be broadcast by WOVV, 90.1 FM on the island, and online at www.wovv.org.
