February 19, 2003
South Jersey basketball finally recognizes Pat Dougherty
By TOM WILLIAMS
Sports Columnist
The past four or five years have been pretty special for girls basketball fans in this area.
We have seen Wildwood’s Monica Johnson set South Jersey scoring records, Jen Daniels and Kim Ordille
create excitement at Holy Spirit, Shaune McLaughlin at Mainland and Kristy Costa at Absegami.
Mix them with Bridgeton Cindy Wilks, who practically averages a double-double for Virginia
Commonwealth, Holy Spirit grad Angie Pezzetta, Ocean City’s Jessica Brookes and quite a few more
recent CAL grads, and you can see how lucky area fans have been.
And the good luck continues this year with strong teams at Sacred Heart, Holy Spirit, Absegami, Ocean
City, Mainland and surprising efforts from Oakcrest and Atlantic City.
In addition, area teams have been playing more games against the best in South Jersey, giving their fans a
chance to see them against the best and see how teams play at the higher levels.
All this has happened because of the great growth in girls basketball, because of young athletes who
develop their games at camps and clinics and because of some exceptional coaching.
But Cape-Atlantic League girls basketball also owes some of its success to Pat Dougherty, who is finally
being inducted into the South Jersey Basketball Hall of Fame this week.
Dougherty was the CAL’s first great coach, at one point guiding her teams to 119 consecutive wins in the
league. It is one of only three 100-plus win streaks in CAL history, joining Vineland swimming and OCHS
boys tennis.
Her teams were ahead of their time. They ran the fast break, trapped on defense and played the game with
great intensity just a few years after the rules were changed to allow girls to play real basketball, instead
of an artificial three-on-three half-court type of game.
One of Dougherty’s players has preceded her into the South Jersey Hall of Fame. Stephanie Vanderslice
Gaitley, now the head coach at Long Island University, was inducted in 1996. The only others from OCHS
basketball to be so honored were Dixie Howell, Jack Boyd, Ken Leary and Ed Paone. Hopefully, Lisa
Foglio and Diane Snow, two more of her players, will soon follow her.
Dougherty coached Ocean City girls basketball from 1971 through 1985. All 14 of her teams qualified for
the state tournament with four of them reaching the South Jersey final. They won the title in 1979, behind
Foglio, but lost in the state final to Paramus Catholic, led by future Olympic gold medalist and NCAA
All-American Anne Donovan.
Dougherty’s team won eight CAL championships and lost a playoff for a ninth. Seven of her teams won 20
or more games and nine of them lost five games or less. Her overall record was 269-63, including 23-14 in
NJSIAA state tournament games.
When she was in the middle of her coaching career and blowing through the CAL, one league football
coach commented that she would do for girls basketball in the league what former Hammonton football
coach Joe Cacia did for football – force other schools to make the commitment to create a program that
can compete.
A lot of things have contributed to the success of the current CAL girls basketball programs. Most of it is
the hard work of the coaches and athletes. Some of it came from opportunities made available by Title IX.
But some of it came from the groundwork laid down by Dougherty’s great Ocean City teams of 20-30 years
ago.
Pat Dougherty is to CAL girls basketball what Vince Lombardi is to the NFL, Red Auerbach is to the NBA,
John Wooden is to men’s college basketball and Cathie Rush is to women’s college basketball. She was
a pioneer who made winning and, more important, working hard toward winning, an OK thing for girls to do.
This week, after too long a wait, she finally becomes Pat Dougherty, South Jersey basketball Hall of
Famer.
The PAT DOUGHERTY Era
Season Record Leading Scorer
1984-85 20-5 Margie Bonnett 15.6
1983-84 14-10 Margie Bonnett 12.0
1982-83 17-10 Robyn Fortsch 17.4
1981-82 16-10 Robyn Fortsch 17.6
1980-81 17-8 Coco Vanderslice 12.2
1979-80 20-6 Anne Brinkmann 18.5
1978-79 25-3 Lisa Foglio 26.6
1977-78 24-2 Stephanie Vanderslice 22.4
1976-77 24-2 Stephanie Vanderslice 17.0
1975-76 24-2 Millie Foxworth 17.8
1974-75 20-1 Diane Snow 21.1
1973-74 18-1 Diane Snow 17.8
1972-73 15-2 Diane Snow 17.0
1971-72 15-1 Diane Snow 17.0
