By Allison Goldsmith
I&M Sports Editor
Games have been hard to come by for the girls basketball team this month. In only the second clash of the season, Nantucket defeated a solid Whitinsville squad 63-40 at home Saturday to improve to 2-0.
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Photo by Nicole Harnishfeger
Shantel Hanniford makes a powerful drive to the hoop past Whitinsville’s Abby VandenAkker during Saturday’s 63-40 win. The junior led the Whalers with 16 points. |
The Whalers will face a flurry of games over the next few weeks as they head into the heart of the season. But with the extra time to practice in December, Nantucket may be coming together sooner than expected.
“I thought we would struggle early and then get better as the season went on. I still feel that way, but with that effort (we saw against Whitinsville) we are going to get better sooner rather than later,” head coach Willis Ferreira said.
Nantucket was scheduled to travel to the Cohasset Christmas Tournament this week, too late for this edition of Sports. The tournament features some of the top competition in Division IV with Cohasset, Sacred Heart and Hull.
“There are three very good teams there. This is a huge test for us to see if we can compete at this level,” Ferreira said.
The Whalers passed a big test with a win over Whitinsville Saturday.
“I went and saw Whitins-ville play Nauset on Friday and I knew we would have our hands full. But the kids came out and played great. I knew we had some talent, I just didn’t know how long it was going to take for them to figure it out and become a team and I thought they did a great job,” Ferreira said.
The Whalers’ defense had been a concern for Ferreira following the first game of the season at Sturgis, but the practice paid off as Nantucket was able to use their defense to hold the Crusaders at bay in the third quarter.
“(Whitinsville is) very disciplined. They are very patient offensively, but we were able to get some steals, get out in transition and make some easy layups,” Ferreira said.
The Crusaders took the early 8-7 lead on a sloppy start by the Whalers. Toward the end of the first quarter Andrea Moore came off the bench to spark Nantucket on both ends of the floor. The junior newcomer banked two three-point shots and picked up the tempo on the defensive side with aggressive play to keep Whitinsville out of rhythm.
“That helped us. She really triggered us defensively because she is so aggressive. She made the other team turn it over and stay out of their offense,” Ferreira said.
Nantucket had a lead as large as 18 points in the first half, but three late turnovers at the end of the second quarter allowed Whitinsville to pull within 12 points at 32-20 at the break.
Not wanting to relinquish the hard-earned advantage, the Whalers came out firing in the third quarter and outscored the Crusaders 22-4 to regain control of the game.
Angela Paterson played a key role for the Whalers with an all-around performance. The senior co-captain scored 13 points, pulled down a team-high nine rebounds, picked off four steals and tallied four assists.
“Everyone is going to try to stop Angela and we have other players that can step in and I think she found those players,” Ferreira said. “We are not as one dimensional as we have been in the past and I think that helps. You can stop one, but you can’t stop them all.
Shantel Hanniford led the Whalers with a game-high 16 points. Moore shot 4-for-5 from the field and 2-for-4 from behind the three-point arch for 14 total points. Bianca Brown scored eight points and pulled down seven boards.
Whitinsville’s Mikaila Van er Baan scored a team-high 11 points and Katherine Anderson chipped in with nine points, eight in the fourth quarter.
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