Peters Expects Quick Turnaround From Her Westhampton Beach Girls Basketball Team; Connor Davis Takes Over Boys Program

Both Westhampton Beach boys and girls basketball teams had similar endings to their seasons last winter: The girls finished one win away from clinching a postseason berth, while the boys were two wins away from advancing.

It was a tough way to finish the season. But both teams are back, and while they both may look different coming into this season, each have their own reasons why they feel they can possibly get back to postseason play this season.

Westhampton Beach head coach Katie Peters has consistently put a competitive team on the court over the past several years, one that, for the most part, wouldn’t necessarily be considered made up of basketball-first players. It’s been a combination of some of the best female athletes the school has to offer — there are many — and the team has had its success off that.

For the first time she can remember, Peters has a handful of players who put basketball ahead of everything else — and because of that, she thinks the team isn’t going to need any type of rebuild after losing a handful of seniors to graduation, including key players such as Olivia Rongo, Lily Berchin and Allie Parascandola.

“I think we’re young; however, for a young team, they have a really solid basketball IQ,” Peters said. “In just the two weeks that we’ve played, their on-court chemistry is in sync, and I think we’re at a higher starting point than possibly any other season. We have a lot to do in terms of spacing and timing, but I’m happy where we are at this point.”

Kylah Avery, a senior small forward, is returning with likely the most minutes played last year and is going to be a big part of what Westhampton Beach does on the court this season. Jane Atkinson and Sarah Gormley are a pair of juniors who are returning with Avery. Atkinson has a strong perimeter shot, Peters said, while Gormley does a lot of the intangibles and is a workhorse.

Peters also considers sophomore guard Lily Graves, freshman center Jasmine Taylor, freshman guard Sandra Clarke and eighth-grader Kate Sweet all to be in the mix for some good minutes as well. Clarke is an incoming transfer from upstate Ithaca who Peters said is going to turn some heads this season with great court vision.

Seniors Laurette Schaumloffel and Haley Waszkelewicz, sophomore Shannon Sweet, Katie’s older sister, and Zoe Stokes all round out the roster.

The Hurricanes will compete in League IV “East” this season with Bayport-Blue Point, Comsewogue, crosstown rival Eastport-South Manor, Hampton Bays, Miller Place, Mount Sinai, Sayville, Shoreham-Wading River and Rocky Point.

Westhampton Beach opened the season on Tuesday with a nonleague game against Mattituck and will play at Pierson this Thursday, December 1, at 6:15 p.m. before playing at Port Jeff the following day at 4:30 p.m.

After Tim McDermott decided to step down in the offseason after three seasons at the helm of the boys varsity team, a vacancy opened up, and Westhampton Beach didn’t have to go far to fill it.

Connor Davis, who spent the last five years as an assistant coach with the girls team under Katie Peters, is taking over the program.

An adaptive physical education teacher within the district for the past seven years, Davis graduated from Mattituck High School in 2011, the same year the boys team he played on won a Long Island Championship. Although he didn’t play in college, he did earn his bachelor’s degree in phys ed with a specialization in adaptive phys ed from SUNY Cortland in 2015, the same year he first landed in Westhampton Beach.

“The position opened up, and the school asked me if I was interested since I’d been heavily involved with the girls program and coached middle school girls teams, and I’m at a point in my life where I said, ‘Let’s do it,’” he explained. “Let’s do it while I’m young and full of energy. And this is something that I can really put my stamp on something as a head coach. Working with Katie was great — it was almost like I co-coached, and I’m trying to establish that here as well.

“One thing I learned is that you can’t do everything on your own — it’s not about you, it’s about us. And I’ve got some good guys right here in our program with coach Ron Gholson and Shaki Edwards coming over from Center Moriches. So it’s really about becoming a program.”

Although last year’s team was very senior-heavy, Davis said he is still learning his team, but he knows he has some pieces coming back with senior Quinn McCormack, junior Andrew Mensch and sophomore Jorden Bennett. All three got considerable minutes last season and will continue to do so this season.

Seniors Avery Merrihew, Shane O’Brien and Kevin Ruiz-Buckley are all returning as well. Junior Isaiah Ortiz and Hunter Sterling are both up from junior varsity. Miller Brennen, Theodore Sterling, Edgar Arguello, Christopher Nuzzi, Jon Clarke and Will Gambino round out the roster.

Like the girls, the boys will play in League IV “East,” which is set up the same as the girls, only with East Hampton added to the mix. The ’Canes played their first nonleague game of the season Tuesday at Patchogue-Medford and will host Riverhead in another nonleague game Thursday, December 1, at 4 p.m.