Most times in the girls basketball state tournament, a 15th seed going up against a No. 2 spells disaster. But that wasn’t the case on Feb. 28.

Down by seven going into the fourth quarter, head coach Tammy Nicolini’s Barnegat squad went on a 10-2 spurt through the first 6:04 to take a one-point lead over Cinnaminson, but the Pirates scored the final five points at the foul line to survive the NJSIAA South Jersey Group II first round with a 33-29 victory.

The Bengals trailed by just two points, 8-6, after the first quarter, but the Pirates (20-7) went on a 5-0 run to start…