Freehold Township handles Ocean 56-28

By Walter J. O’Neill, Jr.

Leading the Spartans in scoring during the 56-28 loss to Freehold Borough was Emma Burke (24) with 10 points.

January 22, the lady Spartans of Ocean Township hosted Freehold Township in a big A Central divisional game of the Shore Conference. Unfortunately for Ocean, they were not up to the challenge as Freehold Township ran away with the 56-28 victory.

Freehold Township entered the game with a 6-7 overall record and were 2-1 in the division. Right from the opening quarter they showed their dominance, outscoring Ocean 17-5 in the first eight minutes. The second quarter was a 19-7 performance with the Patriots taking a 36-12 lead into the halftime break.

During that first half, Ocean had a big issue with turnovers. The guards would stop the dribble once they crossed half court and Freehold Township would apply very tight defense and the Spartans would either pass to a Patriot or just turn it over on a violation.

Michael Lazur, head coach of the Spartans, said his team does not have the experience of playing in big games. There are four seniors on the roster; Yassmeen Youssef, Gloria Smart, Joli Willis and Ava Chebookjian. There are also four juniors; Cara Crouthamel, Alyssa Juliano, Christelle Ocean, and Rosabella Salvatore. Six sophomores are on the varsity squad; Thony Benoit, Colleen Zdan, Brooke Lynn Riley, Ashley Mains, Erin Decker and Emma Burke. Gaia Duraj and Grace Laffey are the two lone freshman to make the varsity. The Spartans entered the game Tuesday night with a 7-6 overall record and were 0-3 in the A Central division.

Starting the second half, Ocean had their best eight minutes of the game in the third quarter. They outscored the Patriots 10-9. However, the final quarter had Freehold Township adding 11 more points to their total and held Ocean to six fourth quarter points.

Leading the Spartans in scoring was Burke with 10 points. She also had six rebounds and one steal. Willis finished with seven, Laffey had five points, Decker scored three, had four rebounds, five assists and four steals. Chebookjian had a basket, pulled in three rebounds and had two assists. Ocean made one of her two foul shots for a single point.

Division standings has Neptune on top at 10-1 overall and 6-0 in the A Central. They are followed by Freehold Township, Middletown South, Middletown North, Ocean and Freehold Borough at the bottom.

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