Ocean City's girls basketball team won a third straight division championship tonight on the strength of a 60-26 victory over Hammonton.

At the same time, the Ocean City boys took Hammonton to the wire before losing, 47-39, and failed to clinch a spot in the NJSIAA Group 3 Tournament. The OCHS boys will have one last chance on Thursday night when they host Vineland.

Nancy White led the Raiders, ranked No. 10 in South Jersey, to their clinching win with 15 points, increasing her career total to 941 points. The other OCHS senior, Amanda Landi, added 11 points with Kelly Brady getting 9. The Ocean City girls, who won the overall CAL championship last year, take a shot at tying for the American Conference lead on Tuesday night when they host No. 1 ranked Absegami.

In tonight's boys game, the Raiders had a 25-23 halftime lead on division-leading Hammonton. They trailed by two points with just over three minutes remaining. But the Blue Devils made six free throws in the final 1:10 of the game to preserve the win and hold on to first place. 

Chris Harris led OCHS with 13 points and 5 assists. Chris Curran had 8 points and 8 rebounds with John Fogarty getting 5 points, 9 rebounds, 3 steals and 4 assists. The Raiders played again without junior Matt Whitworth, who was home battling an allergic reaction to medicine.

One of the big factors in the game was the effective defensive job Hammonton's Anthony Barone did on Bud Johnson, preventing him from penetrating into the lane as successfully as usual. Hammonton also made 7 of 13 three-pointers while the Raiders were 0 for 9.

The complete boys box score is available online.