March 5, 2008
Amanda & Nancy get their South Jersey championship
By TOM WILLIAMS
Sports Columnist
Last season Amanda Landi was a role player on the Ocean City High School girls basketball team that won a school record
28 games but lost in the South Jersey championship game. She did not want that to happen again and she wanted to help
bring home that championship.
So, she ran.
"I went out for the cross country team," Landi said. "I didn't do it to win meets or anything. I'm not much of a
distance runner. I just wanted to lose weight and get into better shape. It worked pretty well. It made a difference in
my stamina and my conditioning for basketball."
This year Landi has started all 30 games, is shooting 47 percent from the floor, is one of the three strong rebounders
the Raiders have on the baseline and is producing more than six points a game.
"This championship means so much," Landi said. "When you're a senior you're supposed to shine, to step up and do
whatever is necessary. That's what we did and it worked out great."
Nancy White, the other senior on this team, has had quite a year. She became the school's ninth 1,000-point scorer, was
nominated as a McDonald's All-American and now brings home a South Jersey championship.
"It means so much to me," White said, "and to Amanda. We're seniors, this is our last chance. Getting to the final the
last two years and losing was very difficult. This really feels great."
White also had some nice words to say about Victoria Wermuth, the Lower Cape May senior who set a new school career
record with 1,333 points. "That's a great accomplishment for her," said White, who will play on the same team with
Wermuth in the April 5th all star game of Cape-Atlantic League seniors. "I'm really proud of her for doing that."
It took them three tries, which probably makes the accomplishment seem all the sweeter. But Nancy White and Amanda Landi
have now accomplished something that few seniors before them have enjoyed - winning a South Jersey girls basketball
championship.
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Paul Baruffi was pretty sure that Lower Cape May would start Monday night's game in a box-and-one defense focused on
minimizing White's contributions. But he wasn't sure how to handle it.
Google.com to the rescue.
"I got the offense off the Internet two days ago," Baruffi said. "I don't know who made it up or where it came from. I
just typed in 'box and one' and I found it. We thought it looked good so we worked on it in practice."
Lower Cape May got the early 5-2 lead in the box-and-one defense but, after the Raiders settled down and began to
execute their Google offense, they ran off 10 straight points to take a 12-5 lead. The Tigers gave up the box-and-one
defense during that run.
"We just felt that Nancy was the center of everything they do," said Lower coach Roy Wright. "We thought we could limit
her by using the box-and-one. It seemed to have some effect at the very start but they settled down after that and
attacked it very well."
What was the Google offense?
"It was a 1-3-1 with Nancy on the baseline," said Baruffi. "(Sarah) Gibbs would dribble to one side and whichever player
she dribbled toward would go down and screen for Nancy, then pop to the opposite corner. Then we could reverse it."
White finished the game with 20 points, including all six of her free throw attempts. "A box-and-one usually doesn't
bother me," White said. "I have a lot of confidence in my teammates and I know we can beat a defense like that."
Baruffi had a mixture of joy and sadness at the end of the game since it was the last game in the 11-year career of his
good friend, Roy Wright.
"He's the best," Baruffi said. "He's like a brother to me. We hang out together and talk basketball, we exchange tapes.
He's a great guy. You do not find many better guys than Roy Wright."
Wright returned the compliment.
"Paul is a terrific coach and a terrific person," he said. "We are glad we had this type of season, showing people the
quality of our program at Lower Cape May. We wanted to win this game but, if we had to lose, I'm so happy it was to
Paul's team. They are good kids and he is the best. I think they'll win the state semifinal and end up playing Malcolm
X. Shabazz for the state championship on Sunday."
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Pat Dougherty was there Monday night. So were members of the Vanderslice family. They may have been the only fans who
watched Ocean City win a South Jersey championship Monday night who were also there in 1979 when the Raiders defeated
Edgewood, 56-49, at Buena Regional High School for the only other OCHS South Jersey girls championship.
Lisa Foglio led the way that day for Dougherty's team, scoring 30 points by hitting 12 of 18 shots and six of seven free
throws. She also had six rebounds and blocked four shots. Anne Brinkmann, Marge Brinkmann, Chris Quinn, Courtney
Vanderslice and Marcia Dunmore played in that game.
Those Raiders were playing in their fourth straight South Jersey final, having lost the previous three years.
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One guy who was very happy on Monday was Chris Armstrong, in his first year as athletics director at Wildwood High
School after serving as a coach and teacher at his alma mater, Ocean City. He watched Wildwood win a South Jersey title,
then saw part of the Raiders' win.
"Some of these Ocean City girls were in my classes last year," said Armstrong.
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Another Ocean City graduate is turning into the Steven Speilberg of CAL sports.
Matt Ulmer taped both the Wildwood and Ocean City games and highlights of both games will be available online through
the sports blogs at shorenewstoday.com/sports. The Ocean City highlights can also be accessed through
OceanCitySports.com.
Ulmer, who now lives in Wildwood Crest, has an extensive library of highlights from Wildwood Catholic basketball,
including some impressive clips of 2007 graduate Anthony Raffa. You can check out his work at
wildwoodcatholicbasketball.com.
And watch for more of his work in the future concerning Ocean City and other CAL schools.
Read more of
Tom Williams' columns