By Allison Goldsmith
I&M Sports Editor
The girls varsity basketball team continued to charge through the season this week, extending its winning streak to eight straight with back-to-back wins over Lighthouse Conference opponents Provincetown and Cape Cod Academy.
The Whalers defeated Provincetown 76-60 on Saturday and Cape Cod Academy 60-36 on Tuesday, both on the road. Nantucket, which improved to 9-1 overall and 3-0 in the league, was scheduled to travel to Upper Cape Tech yesterday, too late for this edition of Sports. Next up for the girls is a trip to Cohasset on Saturday.
With a strong first half of the season, the Whalers have established themselves as one of the more dominant Division IV teams in the region.
Despite winning big over conference opponents this week, the girls’ team has been seeing strong performances out of the opposition all season, particularly in the first half, as teams are gearing up to battle the streaking Whalers.
Against Cape Cod Academy on Tuesday, the Seahawks made their shots early and trailed the Whalers by only seven at the break, 26-19.
“The fact that we beat them pretty easy (in the first meeting this year), I think we came in lackadaisical and didn’t think we had to work at it and they played extremely well,” head coach Willis Ferreira said.
Nantucket used the first half wake-up call and exploded after the break to outscore Cape Cod Academy 34-17.
“It was our effort. We hustled, we sprinted, we defended, we ran the break. I think overall we just played harder,” Ferreira said. “We had to get ourselves motivated by running, so we had to press and do certain things to get us going in the right direction.”
Angela Paterson led the Whalers with 11 points, while Aileen Fredericks and Shantel Hanniford each scored eight in the win.
Against Provincetown on Saturday, the Fishermen used their quickness and a smaller home court to battle the typically dominant Whalers. Nantucket led 36-30 at halftime.
“I felt good about the 36. I didn’t know where the 30 came from. We have been holding teams defensively. To have them at 30 at halftime was a shock,” Ferreira said. “They made some plays. They were small and quick and really bothered our guards at times. They had some steals and layups and hit a few threes.”
But in the second half the Whalers relied on the sure-handed Paterson, who took control with 19 of her 23 points after the break. The sophomore also contributed eight assists, five steals and eight rebounds in the game.
“Angela played outstanding in the second half. She really took control of the game with the dribble and playing the point more than she normally would. Those guys were pestering us and I thought she did a great job of passing and finding the open player,” Ferreira said.
The Whalers maintained a lead of eight to 10 points in the second half, but could not break it open as Provincetown had the hot hand from behind the three-point line. The Fishermen hit seven three-pointers in the second half to stay in the game.
Despite the persistent push by Provincetown, the Whalers protected the lead and went on to win by 16.
Calli Moore had a strong first half inside for the Whalers against the smaller Provincetown squad. The senior scored 16 points and had nine rebounds in the game. Hanniford scored eight points, while Fredericks and Whitney Butler chipped in seven each in the win.
“Whenever you can have three scorers with Shantel (Hanniford), Angela (Paterson) and Calli (Moore), teams are going to have a hard time deciding who they want to stop. Our role players are doing a great job, too. You can’t leave (Aileen) Fredericks and (Maryanne) Bradley open. We have more than one player that you have to stop and that’s a plus,” Ferreira said.
Reach Allison Goldsmith at sports@inkym.com |
