Shannon Sweet Lifts Westhampton Beach To Win Over Whitman

In less than a minute, Shannon Sweet provided the Hurricanes basketball team with the sweetest gift of all.

With a three-pointer that countered Walt Whitman’s, and an offensive putback late in the fourth quarter, the senior forward gave the Westhampton Beach team the lead for good in what ended up being a 46-41 nonleague win on the Hurricanes’ home court Saturday.

“I had my eyes on the ball. I knew we needed it,” Sweet said. “I knew we were down a couple points, and we had to get a shot up. I put my mind to it, and I did it.”

Her second three-point shot of the game came 20 seconds after a Walt Whitman trifecta, and the senior grabbed an offensive rebound off her younger sister’s miss — after Kate Sweet secured possession for Westhampton on a jump ball. Shannon Sweet (12 points) hit her putback with 2:03 left to play for a 42-41 Hurricane advantage.

“We had a halftime chat with Shannon Sweet — telling her that since they’re not pressing out on her to let it fly and make them pay — and she did that,” head coach Katie Peters said. “The splash was part of a quick eight points and gave us the lead — it was unbelievable. Shannon plays so hard. She plays with heart. She’s a leader. We couldn’t ask for any more from her.”

Sweet, along with junior center Jasmine Taylor (nine points, 10 rebounds) and freshman forward Chloe Blowes (nine points) were vital as Walt Whitman worked to lock down junior point guard Sandra Clarke and put pressure on Kate Sweet, who are the Hurricanes’ (12-1, 7-0 in League V) primary scorers.

“They stepped up big for their teammates today,” Peters said. Even still, Clarke finished with six points, 10 rebounds and eight assists and Kate Sweet tacked on five.

Shannon Sweet’s first shot from beyond the arc also hit its mark to regain the lead for the Hurricanes, 27-25, with 6:18 to go in the third, but Walt Whitman’s Madi Richter, who led all scorers with 16 points, continued to come through for the Wildcats (10-3, 5-1 in League I), and recorded the last four in the stanza for a 34-32 Walt Whitman advantage.

“Walt Whitman is a great team with great players, and it was a great matchup,” Sweet said. “We have room for growth, but I think the sky’s the limit.”

Blowes’s contributions were also critical to open and close the contest. She secured five points for a 13-12 lead at the end of the first, and hit all four of her shots from the free-throw line in the fourth. Following Kate Sweet’s two from the charity stripe with 11.8 seconds, Blowes made her last two to ice it.

“It’s a big mental component of the game when people are cheering and all eyes are on you,” Sweet said.

Peters said she simulates foul shooting in game situations down the stretch during practice to prepare for those very moments.

“They know to keep track of points, and handle those plays with a lot of poise and grit,” the coach said.

Clarke said her team also learned from a 48-38 win over Walt Whitman just two weeks ago, on January 4, that they can’t be caught asleep on defense.

“We have to always pay attention to our player,” the junior said. “When we were man-to-man against them, they would front cut and we would ball watch, and we know we can’t do that. This time around, we stepped up our defense and intensity.”

The girls also tweaked their plays to keep the Wildcats on their toes.

“We had to stay composed and not rush passing the ball,” Taylor said. “We weren’t selfish. Every time someone was open, we passed to them and they’d score. This feels great knowing how hard we worked. I think this team can do big things.”

Clarke said the goal of a second straight trip to the Long Island Championship is fueling the Hurricanes’ fire.

“That’s our focus,” she said. “And games like this are huge because they keep us honest in practice. We know there’s competition out there, and we always have to bring our ‘A’ game. It makes us want to be better.”

Peters said she purposely put together a challenging nonleague schedule to help the Hurricanes prepare for playoffs.

“The girls are continuing to rise to the occasion,” the coach said. “They’re really showing what they’re capable of. I think we have a very high ceiling, and it will be fun to see them continue to grow.”

Shannon Sweet said the win also sends a message: “Beating them again tells other teams we’re here to play and we’re here to win. We’re going to give it our all every time we step onto the court.”