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Photo by Nicole Harnishfeger
Shantel Hanniford drives to the basket during Thursday’s win over Sturgis. |
By Allison Goldsmith
I&M Sports Editor
(Feb. 11, 2010) The postseason tournament is still more than a week away, but it was a playoff-like atmosphere in the John J. O’Neill gymnasium Sunday afternoon as the varsity girls basketball team went to battle with Sacred Heart. The Whalers needed a fourth-quarter full-team effort to hold off the Saints, 75-63 and earn their 12th straight victory.
“It was a good win. We have to play in those types of games, in that type of atmosphere. We panicked a little bit, but at the end we found a way to get it done,” head coach Willis Ferreira said.
Also this week, Nantucket cruised to two easy wins over Sturgis 65-19 Thursday and Norfolk 59-36 Saturday.
The Whalers, who improved to 14-2 overall (5-0 in the Lighthouse Conference) closed out a stretch of six games over nine days. They had a three-day break from action earlier this week before gearing up for another busy weekend. Nantucket is scheduled to hit the road to visit Mashpee today, Dennis-Yarmouth Friday, Provincetown Saturday and Whitinsville Monday to close the regular-season.
?“We are playing well. I don’t know if we are ready yet for tournament play. Hopefully this week we can get a little more intense. That helps. Defensively we need to get a little better, tougher,” Ferreira said.
The last few weeks have sounded like a broken record for Ferreira’s team. The Whalers would go up big by halftime en route to an easy 30-point victory.
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