Hoop squads primed for state tournament
BY STEVE SHEPPARD INDEPENDENT SPORTS EDITOR
The regular season ends today, and the only question now is whom the two Whaler squads will play in the first round of the state tournament.

Both the boys and girls teams top the Lighthouse Conference with 6-0 league records and each should be awarded with at least one home game when state tournament pairings are announced Friday. Last year both varsity squads were handed home games in the first and second rounds, with the girls advancing to the Division 4 south sectional division finals.

Each team wrapped up a tournament spot over a week and a half ago when the Lighthouse schedule ended. In many ways, however, the season was just beginning as tough Dennis-Yarmouth was on tap for both teams, followed by the Island Invitational at Martha's Vineyard and games scheduled for this afternoon against Mashpee at home for the boys and away at Sandwich for the girls.

Playing two divisions up against Division II Dennis-Yarmouth in their final home game of the regular season last Thursday, the girls avenged their only loss of the year to date - a 54-42 defeat at D-Y on Jan. 22. (See related story.)

The girls kept cruising through the weekend, holding on to edge Chatham Saturday, 49-44, and then blowing past Mount Everett of Rhode Island, 73-22, in the first round of the annual Island Invitational tournament at Martha's Vineyard. Nantucket had a 15-point lead in the Chatham game before the Blue Devils whittled it to a point with 35 seconds left. Angela Paterson and Aileen Fredericks saved the game for Nantucket by making the important free throws. Through Sunday, the girls sported a 16-1 record.

The boys, meanwhile, lost a tough one to Dennis-Yarmouth, 61-55, before rebounding to defeat Easthampton, 72-48, in the first round of the Island Invitational. The Whalers' Jordan Ferreira led all scorers in that game with 30 points. The boys' season record through Sunday stood at 12-6.

With both Nantucket teams vying for the Island Invitational championship Monday afternoon - the girls playing always-tough Harwich and the boys taking on host Martha's Vineyard - each should be primed for the state tournament.

The boys close out the regular season against Mashpee this afternoon in a game scheduled for 3 p.m. in the John

J. O'Neill gym. I