Ocean Township girls basketball who has been one of the top teams all season underneath head coach Michael Lazur at 22-5 had a matchup yesterday against Brick Memorial (16-10) led by coach Thomas Lecorchick. Brick had a tough task in hand with Ocean having more experience, a talented deep team and on a mission. Coach Lazur brings a hard nose mentality to Ocean making sure that everything is perfect before game day. This is what separates them from the other schools as these players buy onto his system. Coach Lecorchick knew that his team needed to keep up with their scoring in order to win this game.
Senior Jineen Ayyash started things off for Ocean Township setting the tone on offense while senior Alexis Caruso did same thing for Brick Memorial but struggled after that. Ocean heating up quickly as they were up 7-2 and had everything right going for them. Junior guard Kayden Clark got into the action drawing a foul and converting on her and one. This would set up to be a fantastic performance for Clark who continues to improve every game. She is talented, can do multiple things on the court and great off the ball. Ocean had a 18-6 lead going into the second quarter.
Brick Memorial struggled whole game to find shots, was out of sorts and didn't have the right mindset. Ocean Township's defense was outstanding limiting them to single digits in each quarter. Gamila Betton, Caroline Bariscillo, Eli Clark also started to get into the party making key buckets for Ocean. They extended the lead to 20 outscoring Brick 10-2 in second quarter with balanced and good flow to their offense. Coach Lazur called out certain plays that these players learned in practice which helped during this game. Ocean's lead was 28-8 heading to halftime.
The domination would continue in second half as Ocean Township outscored Brick Memorial 23-8 in third and fourth quarters. Kayden Clark, Gamila Betton and Jineen Ayyash could not be stopped during the whole game. Brick was not prepared in this game which back fired big time for head coach Thomas Lecorchick and rest of coaching staff. Ocean improves to 23-5 as they blow past by Brick 51-16 with a complete game on defense and offense. Their young players got a chance to play towards the end getting that experience in a tournament game.
Ocean Township's next game is against Neptune on Thursday February 29th in the NJSIAA Tournament Semifinal Round Central Jersey Group 3.
Leading scorers for Ocean Township
Kayden Clark 13 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 block
Gamila Betton 12 points, 12 rebounds, 1 block
Jineen Ayyash 10 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists
Caroline Bariscillo 7 points, 2 rebounds,1 assist
Eli Clark 6 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 block.
Photo Credit 📹 Mike Franco
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