The girls basketball team strolled into the gym for its opening day of practice Monday afternoon like they had been there before. It has been more than nine months since the Whalers streaked into the Division IV South Sectional finals with the best record in school history, but with a returning core of veteran players, they got right back at it in preparation for the upcoming season.
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Photo by Bevin Bixby
?Mandy Cahill tries to put the ball in the hoop against defenders Grace-Anne Tornovish, center, and Ashley Clinger, left, as the rest of the team looks on during Monday night’s first girls basketball practice of the season. |
“There is a little confidence about them. They look confident to me. They look like they know what they are doing, and they know how to do it,” head coach Willis Ferreira said. “Our goals this year have to be a little different than they have been in the past because of where we got a year ago. My own (goal) is to get back to that game. We were one win away from going to the Fleet Center and playing for a state championship, and that is the ultimate goal ever.”
The girls squad will open the regular season at Nauset Monday, Dec. 10 and host the home opener against Upper Cape Tech Wednesday, Dec. 12.
Last season the Whalers assembled the most successful season in Nantucket High School basketball history with a 20-4 record and a trip to the Division IV South Sectional finals.
As a two seed in the tournament, the Whalers defeated Bishop Connolly 56-25 in the first round and Blue Hills 60-33 in the quarterfinals, both at home, before advancing to defeat sixth-seeded Hull 52-49 in a heart-stopping, last-minute, semifinal-round win. The postseason run came to an end with a 45-31 loss at the hands of number-one seed Sacred Heart in the sectional finals.
“Last year was a dream season. To get that far was a surprise. I thought we played well at the right times and then unfortunately we didn’t play our best in the last game. I was very proud of them. They worked extremely hard from day one. They were a special group. They didn’t complain, they just went out and played,” Ferreira said.
“Hopefully it will rub off. Hopefully the experience they gained, hopefully they want to return to that place. Those kids are obviously a year older, and a lot of those kids are seniors now. They have played for a long time. They understand what it takes to get there, and I think that is only a plus to have all that experience coming back.”
The Whalers graduated four seniors from last year’s team including point guard Maryanne Bradley and center Calli Moore in addition to sparkplugs Anna Burnham and Erin Lindsay off the bench.
Nantucket returns seven players with valuable experience from last year’s squad, including their top two scorers, junior Angela Paterson and sophomore Shantel Hanniford.
Paterson returns for her junior season after leading the Whalers with a team-high 339 points in 26 games. She is 362 points away from reaching the 1,000-point mark for her high school career. Hanniford was second overall in scoring with 226 points in her freshman year.
“A lot of people are going to try to take Angela away so there should be a lot of people left open and other kids need to make shots. This is not a one-man team by any stretch. We have people that can score. Hanniford is unstoppable when she puts her mind to it,” Ferreira said.
Look for Paterson to vacate her spot on the wing to take over point guard duties, unless the Whalers can find another option to carry the ball up the court. Co-captains Aileen Fredericks and Cassie Moran will also play at guard for the Whalers this season and can contribute to the point guard duties.
Despite the departure of Moore in the post, the Whalers have decent size in the paint with the return of senior co-captain Mandy Cahill, senior Whitney Butler and Hanniford.
“We have to get better defensively and rebounding. If we can hold teams to one shot, we are going to win a lot of games,” Ferreira said. “I think we have enough offense. I know at times last year our offense would get a lot of points and then we wouldn’t score for four or five minutes and we have to address that issue. We can’t allow teams to get back into the games.”
Senior transfer student Stephanie Espinoza, who played on the girls soccer team this fall, will also contribute to the varsity squad this winter.
Thirty-eight girls signed up for basketball this season and 30 showed up for opening practice on Monday. There are four slots still remaining on the varsity team which will be filled through practices before the opening game, Ferreira said.
“We are trying to figure out the varsity team, and trying to get into the best condition we can. We are going to play up-tempo. We are going to run and gun. Most of the kids can really run. We should be a little faster and hopefully a little more efficient scoring-wise,” Ferreira said.
There are a few new opponents on the Whalers’ schedule this season including Nauset and Chatham. West Bridgewater and Cohasset have dropped off the schedule.
“I wanted to toughen it once those teams left. West Bridgewater and Cohasset are usually very good. When you lose them you don’t want to play teams that are weaker. You like to be challenged,” Ferreira said.
The Whalers will also be going up against strong Dennis-Yarmouth and Sandwich teams again this season in addition to home and away games against Upper Cape Tech, South Shore Voke and Norfolk. The Lighthouse Conference schedule begins in mid-January.
The Nantucket girls squad will also be returning to the Island Invitation on the Vineyard in February. Nantucket won the tournament last year, which was a catalyst for the playoff run, Ferreira said.
“That really made our season. When we won that, we got a lot of confidence and went on a roll from there,” he said.
Reach Allison Goldsmith at sports@inkym.com |
