VIDEO: Wildwood girls, Ocean City boys reach sectional title games; Wildwood boys ousted

Posted: March 1st 2024

By BRIAN CUNNIFF

CapeAtlanticLive.com

Two Cape May County high school basketball teams will play for South Jersey championships on Saturday after winning sectional semifinal games on Friday.

The Wildwood girls team dominated from start to finish in taking down Audubon to advance in Group I, while the Ocean City boys team survived a couple of second-half charges by Camden Eastside to move on in Group III.

Meanwhile, the Wildwood boys were bumped from the Group I tournament in the semifinal round by KIPP Cooper Norcross Academy.

WILDWOOD GIRLS DOMINATE AUDUBON

Experience played a big factor for the Wildwood girls team on Thursday.

The Lady Warriors, a group with a handful of players used to deep playoff runs, jumped all over Audubon from the start and rolled to a 62-36 victory in a South Jersey Group I semifinal.

The victory places second-seeded Wildwood in the South Jersey title game on Saturday. The Lady Warriors will host No. 4 Woodstown on Saturday at 1 p.m. Woodstown beat top-seeded but shorthanded Woodbury, 80-57, in the other semifinal. 

This is Wildwood’s third straight South Jersey title appearance. The program won the title in 2022 and lost in last year’s championship game to Woodstown.

Against Audubon, Wildwood jumped to 10-0 in the blink of an eye, went on to a 21-7 advantage after the first quarter and led by the practically insurmountable score of 41-15 at the half.

Wildwood (22-7), as is its identity, knocked down a lot of outside shots against the Green Wave, sinking 10 three-pointers. The Lady Warriors enjoyed terrific scoring balance, with Macie McCracken leading the way with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Sophia Wilber scored 13 points, Angela Wilber added 11 points and Rebecca Benichou chipped in nine points.

Saturday’s game will be broadcast live by Cape Atlantic Live.

WILDWOOD BOYS OUSTED BY KIPP

The Wildwood boys team’s run in the South Jersey Group I playoffs came to a screeching halt at top-seeded KIPP Cooper Norcross Academy in Camden Thursday.

KIPP jumped out to a 20-4 lead and never looked back, eventually finishing with a 70-48 victory over the fourth-seeded Warriors.

KIPP will host Pitman for the sectional championship on Saturday. Pitman beat Salem in the other semifinal.

After its sluggish start, Wildwood appeared to settle the game by moving to within 11 points at 22-11 midway through the second quarter. But KIPP responded with an 8-0 surge to reestablish control. Wildwood never got its disadvantage smaller than 16 points the rest of the way.

KIPP point guard Maleake Kelly and power forward Tahmir Dixon dominated the game. Kelly finished with 21 points and 10 assists while Dixon scored 17 points and collected 22 rebounds.

The defeat signifies the end of an era for Wildwood boys basketball. The Warriors (16-13) will graduate eight seniors, four of whom – Junior Hans, Ryan Troiano, Jordan Fusik and Harley Buscham – were significant contributors for at least three seasons.

Hans scored 24 points in his final high school game. The four-year starter ends his basketball career with 1,647 career points.

OCEAN CITY HOLDS OFF EASTSIDE, CHECKS INTO FINAL

Another chapter is about to be written on the Ocean City-Mainland rivalry.

The Raiders and Mustangs will battle for the South Jersey Group III championship Saturday afternoon at 3 in Linwood after each of the two teams won their sectional semifinal games Thursday.

Ocean City, the second seed in the tournament, built an 11-point halftime lead, before withstanding numerous second-half charges from No. 3 Camden Eastside to win, 59-56.

Camden Eastside actually rallied to take a brief lead in the third quarter after scoring the first 12 points of the period. But Ocean City responded with a 9-4 spurt to take a four-point lead into the fourth and never trailed again, although the Raiders did survive a three-point attempt by Eastside that would have tied the game with less than 10 seconds to go had it fallen.

Ocean City (26-3) got 19 points, six rebounds and four assists from Dylan Schlatter, 18 points from Kori Segich and 14 points from Charlie LaBarre.

Saturday’s South Jersey title game will serve as a rubber match for the Raiders and Mustangs. Ocean City won the first meeting in Linwood, 59-52, on Jan. 29. Mainland then topped Ocean City, in a Cape-Atlantic League tournament semifinal game on a neutral court, 55-50, on Feb. 14.

Saturday’s game will be broadcast live by Cape Atlantic Live.