Dolphins Dominate Hurricanes!

The past two weeks have been very eventful at Ocracoke School; basketball is here and all four teams have already started playing games. To start the week off, last Tuesday, both varsity teams were in action against rival Hatteras Hurricanes. In the first game of the evening the Lady Dolphins went into the game with confidence, beating the 'Canes both at home and away last year. The ladies are returning almost all of their roster, with the exception of Alma Flores and Alin Villanueva who graduated last year.

To start off the game, the Lady Dolphins showed their dominance early by sparking an early lead over the 'Canes, the score at the half was 34 to 10 in favor of the Dolphins. The Dolphins continued dominating as the final score was 63-30. The Lady Dolphins started conference play the right way 1-0.

In the boys' game both Hatteras and Ocracoke lost most of their teams to graduation last year. Nonetheless, the rivalry will still continue. To start the game off the Dolphins held a 4 point lead at the half at 26-22. In the 3rd quarter the game remained close, the game going back and forth, and both teams exchanging runs of their own. But in the 4th quarter is when the Dolphins took over. Outscoring the 'Canes by 7 in the final quarter, the Dolphins came away win a victory, with a final score of 64-53.

The next game the Dolphins played in was an away game against conference opponent Columbia. The ladies continued to show their superiority by coming away with another easy win. They defeated the Wildcats 53-31 in a dominant performance by the ladies. The boys' game told a much different story. The game was back and forth for the first half as the Wildcats had a 1-point lead going into the half. In the 3rd quarter, the Dolphins came out a little flat. We lacked the explosiveness that we had during the first half, but later in the quarter we got it back together and got the game to 6 at the end of the 3rd. In the 4th the game went back and forth, but unfortunately the Dolphins fell short to the Wildcats 67-62.

The next day after the Columbia game, the Dolphins played an early game against the Perquimans Pirates. The ladies once again played a great game, the score at the half was 32-21 in favor of the Lady Dolphins. The story of the second half told the same story as the 1st, as the Lady Dolphins defeated the pirates 63-45. The Lady Dolphins are now 3-0 in conference play, and tied for 1st place in the conference with Gates County.

The boys played their best overall game of the season against a very good Pirates team. In the 1st half the game was fast paced, physical, and very close as the game was tied at the half at 36.  In the beginning of the 3rd quarter the Pirates started out in an extended zone, which the Dolphins did not react very well at first and the Pirates scored 8 points in arrow right out of the gate.

Eventually the Dolphins got a hang of the zone and began penetrating and attacking the zone, getting easy baskets. Perquimans slowed the game down, holding the ball with their two guards that both and great ball handling. The game was very close at the end and both teams were fighting for the ball on every possession. But in the end, Perquimans defeated the Dolphins by 4 in a very close game, the final score was 55-51.

The next time to catch the Dolphins in action is on Friday at the 4th annual Ocracoke holiday tournament. The girls start at 5pm against First Flight, and the boys follow against Gateway Christian. See you there!

Matteus, an aspiring sports journalist, is a sophomore at Ocracoke School. He is also a member of the Ocracoke Dolphins basketball team.