By Peter Vankevich
Both Dolphins basketball teams won on the road Tuesday defeating the Creswell Tigers. The boys (6-14, conference 6-9) won 57-38. Evin Caswell and Matteus Gilbert each scored 18 points to lead the team to victory. Evin had 10 rebounds and Matteus shot 10-11 from the foul line. The girls (14-6, conference 11-4) easily won their game 57-24. Stats for the Lady Dolphins’ game were unavailable.
Due to weather concerns, the games against the Gates County Red Barons, were changed from Thursday to Wednesday, making it a challenge to come off the road and ferry late at night and play the next day against some of the best teams in the conference.
The Lady Dolphins never got their groove going falling behind 16-6 at the end of the first quarter and 29-12 at halftime. The second half was better, but the final score was 59-37. Sydney Austin scored 15 points, followed by Lucy O’Neal (13), Karen Perez (4), Bricea Moreno (3), and Katie O’Neal (2). The Lady Red Barons (18—1) are undefeated in the conference (13-0). Center Kaila Ballard was high scorer with 28 points for the winners followed by Alaysia White (13) and Jaiven Knight (8).
The Boys Red Barons visited the island with a formidable 15-3 (11-2 conference) record. The Dolphins played them tough, trailing 12-11 at the first quarter and 30-26 at the half. The Red Barons pulled away in the third, outscoring the Dolphins 12-6 and won the game 63-53. The bigger Vikings were able to get more offensive rebounds and that made a difference in the outcome. Eight of the nine Dolphins scored in the game, Evin Caswell (16), Matteus Gilbert (12), Carson O’Neal (11), Brandon O’Neal (4), Darvin Contreras (3), Waylon Underwood (3) Dalton Kalna (2) and Liam Caswell (2).
The next games are at home Friday (Feb 6), beginning at 4 p.m. against the Plymouth Vikings. The game will be broadcast WOVV (90.1 FM and online at wovv.org.
