WHALER GIRLS WIN ISLAND INVITATIONAL TOURNAMENT
Angela Paterson named MVP
BY STEVE SHEPPARD INDEPENDENT SPORTS EDITOR
The Whaler girls' basketball team defeated host Martha's Vineyard, 54-51, in Monday's final game of the two-day Island Invitational to capture that tournament's flag and enter the post-season with confidence.

Angela Paterson, seen here putting up a jumper against Sandwich, leads the Lighthouse Conference in scoring and was MVP of last weekend's Martha's Vineyard Island Invitational tournament. Shantel Hanniford (in background) is number two in scoring in the Lighthouse.

"We're having a great year," head coach Willis Ferreira said afterwards. "The kids played really well; I'm very proud of them."

Angela Paterson, who scored a combined 43 points over two games, was named tournament MVP. Mary Anne Bradley, who also played well in both games, was named with Paterson to the All- Tournament team.

In Monday's all Nantucket-Vineyard showdown, the boys lost a heartbreaker to the Division III school, 75-69. Evan Hourihan and Jordan Ferreira took consolation in also being named to the All- Tournament team.

Both Nantucket teams now prepare for the state tournament.

The pairings will be announced Friday at noon, and until then neither Ferreira or boys' coach Beau Almodobar knows if a home game is in the cards. What each does know is that motivation will not be a problem come the postseason.

Each squad sits undefeated atop the Lighthouse Conference and both feature the league's leading scorers - Ferreira with a 16.4 points per game aver- age for the boys, and Paterson, with a 13.5 points per game average, and Shantel Hanniford, averaging 10 points a game, for the girls.

With a 14-5 record through Monday, the boys have survived the loss of four players and, thanks to a reliance on teamwork, continue to improve despite the setback. "We've had a lot of adversity," Almodobar said of the players lost due to academic reasons or off island moves. "But we're a new team now, and the kids have really stepped it up."

There was no better evidence of that than during Sunday's thriller at the Martha's Vineyard Island Invitational when the Whalers outlasted Easthampton, 60-59, thanks to a Ferreira 3-pointer made with three seconds to play, setting up Monday's face-off against the Vineyard. Not surprisingly, the Vineyard focused its defensive efforts on Ferreira, but Hourihan countered the move with a fine 20-point performance.

The girls, meanwhile, endured four straight games - beginning Saturday and ending yesterday - to finish the regular season.

Division 1 Sandwich visited the island Saturday in the Lady Whalers' last home game of the regular season. Honored before the game were the team's four seniors - Bradley, Erin Lindsay, Anna Burnham and Callie Moore - and their parents. While Nantucket kept it close in the first half, Sandwich took advantage of its size, and frequent trips to the free throw line, to turn back the Whalers, 68-47. Paterson led Nantucket scorers with 17 points; Hanniford had 11 and Mandy Cahill 10. Ellery Gould not only scored 38 points and grabbed 14 rebounds for Sandwich, she broke her school's single-season scoring record during the contest. Coach Ferreira was anything but disappointed in his team's effort, however.

"That was good for us," he said of the experience of playing an opponent three divisions higher. "I thought we played hard, and I'm very proud of them. If we play like that in the tournament we can do some damage."

He thought, too, that the experience of playing against a larger school would be beneficial. "It's a good time (in the season) to play against that kind of talent," he said.

He was proven right the very next day at the Island Invitational as the girls overcame a 2-point halftime deficit against Harwich to win, 66-53, behind Paterson's 23-point performance. With the victory over the Vineyard on Monday, the team's overall record improved to 15-3.

For both teams, the season so far has been a success, but all they can do now is wait. Both could be

playing as early as next Tuesday. I