By Allison Goldsmith
I&M Sports Editor
As Angela Paterson drove in for an easy fast-break layup in the first quarter against Provincetown yesterday, nearly every fan in the gym rose to their feet. She made the basket and even drew the foul as the home crowd erupted in celebration.
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Photo by Nicole Harnishfeger
Angela Paterson scores three points on this jumper, after notching the 1,000th point of her high school career in Wednesday’s win against Provincetown. The junior is the youngest basketball player in the history of Nantucket High School to reach that milestone.
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With the shot, Paterson became the second Nantucket High School basketball player this season and the first female athlete as a junior to reach the prestigious 1,000-point milestone in her high school career.
“It is pretty sweet. I am really excited,” she said following the Whalers’ 45-13 first-round playoff victory over Provincetown. “It feels great. I thought I was going to get it in four years, but it is even better to get it in three years.”
After receiving congratulations from her teammates, the junior guard took the basketball and presented it to her mother Kelly as a thank-you for years of support.
“My mom has been the one that traveled with me and spent all her time to get me where I am today in my basketball career,” she said, adding it was the most memorable moment of the day.
Paterson is the seventh Whaler to reach 1,000 points, joining Glen Santos, Glenn Menard, Glen DaSilva, Anthony Saunders, Adriene Harvey, Kari Harvey and Jordan Ferreira, who reached the mark earlier this month.
Paterson got a solid start as a freshman, scoring 295 points in her first season on the varsity. With a deep run into the playoffs, Paterson scored 339 points in 24 games last season and now has 372 in 21 games as a junior.
“I think it’s a great accomplishment. I think it’s special for her because I think it’s what she always wanted to do,” girls basketball head coach Willis Ferreira said. “She is probably the best offensive player I have ever had. She is only going to get better.”
It has been a long road for Paterson.
“When I first started middle school, I knew I wanted to go to high school and score 1,000 points,” she said. “I went in the gym one day and saw the banner and my dad said once you score 1,000 points you get recognized for it.”
“As a player it is the ultimate goal. You want to strive to do that. I think only special players do it. When you look at that list up there, I only know half of them up there, but I think those types of players, they played the game hard, they played the game the right way, they played the game in the off-season and I think you have to be that player,” Ferreira said.
“Offensively she has become a better shooter than she was when she started. I think she has learned to be a better passer, a better leader and a better defender.”
Paterson made the commitment to basketball at a very young age. She started playing ball in the driveway with her older brother Kyle and then with her younger sister Alicia.
“Angela, when she was really young, made the comment to us that she would like to play in the WNBA. We told her, you do your part and we will do our part,” her father Bob said. “Angela doesn’t love basketball, Angela lives basketball. Everything is basketball with Angela.”
She started Boys & Girls Club basketball at age 7 and was coached by her father for four years. In her final year at the club, she earned the Girl Athlete of the Year award.
In the spring of eighth grade Paterson gave up playing softball and field hockey and chose to put all of her time and effort into playing for an AAU club team.
“It got me more experience. Before I played that I didn’t know how intense college basketball could be. It gets you ready for college basketball and there are also a lot of scouts watching so you get recognized from there,” Paterson said.
The practice helped.
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Photo by Nicole Harnishfeger
Paterson gives the game ball to her mother Kelly Paterson, while her dad Bob and aunt Krista look on.
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“When I first started in eighth grade in AAU I could not use my right hand at all. I saw the coach that told me that recently, and he was so amazed at how much better I got at that,” the left-handed Paterson said.
Paterson played for the Bay State Magic for one season and then switched to the Bay State Bombers for two years with practices in Chatham and Harwich. She would go to practice off-island twice a week, stay overnight and with help from the Hy-Line and Steamship Authority, catch the first ferry back to school in the morning.
Along with the punishing practice schedule, the Paterson family had another obstacle to surmount. In October 2005, Angela’s mother Kelly was diagnosed with breast cancer. At the time of diagnosis, the disease had already spread into the lymph nodes and aggressive treatment was required. By the summer of 2006 Kelly Paterson was traveling off-island every day for radiation treatment. But that didn’t stop her from helping her daughter reach her goals.
“Even when she was sick, she always took me to practice. She would come back from treatment. It meant a lot. For someone who just got out of treatment, all tired, to take you to basketball practice and sit through the practice, that means a lot,” Angela said.
Later that year, in the summer of 2006, doctors told Kelly that the cancer had spread into her spine. By 2007 it had spread to her brain. But today, Kelly Paterson said her cancer is stabilized, and she travels only once every three weeks for treatment. Her health issues may have slowed her down, but they have not stopped her from helping her daughter achieve her goals.
“I just knew she loved the game. I wanted to do anything I could to give her the opportunity to play. I thought she was so good that I wanted other people to see her. I knew eventually she would like to play college ball. Because she loved it so much and dedicates so much of her time, I knew she was 100 percent, I felt I had to give 100 percent too to help her achieve that. I have enjoyed watching her play,” Kelly Paterson said.
They also had help from the parents of players on her team from Barnstable. Caity Rogers and Jess Woods were always available to drive her to practice or to let her stay overnight, if Kelly was unavailable. Coaches Shane Masaschi and Carver Crowell have also had a tremendous impact on Angela’s AAU experience.
“I would like to thank our AAU team. We all looked out for each other. We have all been together, we stayed together, we played together and that made it easier for everyone,” Masaschi said. “The commitment she made, that her family made, I know it was a struggle for them because of her mother’s illness. To get off-island, to get her where she needed to get was challenging. They have as a family committed to her play and she has not let them down for one minute.”
“For her to be able to juggle basketball, juggle the grades to be on honor roll and also to deal with the situation with me and to be able to keep everything focused, to me is unbelievable,” Kelly Paterson said.
“It is enjoyable to sit there and watch her play and to see how every year how much better she gets from the previous year. It’s unbelievable,” Bob Paterson said.
“Angela has changed from a catch-and-shoot shooter to more of what I call a scorer,” Masaschi said. “Someone who gets the ball and finds a way, whether it’s through a pass, a drive to the basket, a three-point shot, making the play happen to put points on the board.”
“When you have a player like her, it is a lot easier for your team. She has all the skills, obviously she can shoot, but she does more than that. She can handle the ball. She is left-handed which makes her tougher to guard, and she just has a commitment to the game that most of the kids don’t,” Ferreira said. “She loves the game. She plays it year-round, and as a coach that’s what you want. You want players dedicated like that.”
Paterson is a huge contributor to the girls basketball team as the Whalers go after another run in the postseason tournament.
“We all work hard together. We don’t worry about it. We want to win. We want to get back to where we were last year. We don’t focus on individuals, we focus on playing together and winning together,” Paterson said.
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