Westhampton Beach Girls Basketball Off To Fast Start But Peters Says There's Room For Improvement

The Westhampton Beach girls basketball team is 4-1 to start the season, including a 50-39 victory at home over Elwood/John Glenn in its League VI opener on Friday night. All signs have the Lady Hurricanes going in the right direction, and while head coach Katie Peters didn’t disagree, she said there’s a lot to be done as well.

“It seems each game we are coming together more as a team,” she said. “Collectively, we have a lot of different strengths amongst our individual skill sets. Piecing those strengths together to be the strongest team as possible has required patience and poise within our team infrastructure. Our players have really adopted a we-over-me mentality.

“Overall, at this point in the season, I see we have a lot of room for growth and improvement,” she added. “I do not feel we have fully gelled yet. As I said earlier, the difference in individual skill sets allows us to play a very fast up-tempo style of play at times, and also allows us to slow things down and play some possession game at times. We are looking to find a balance between the two.”

That was certainly the case on Friday night when Westhampton Beach and Glenn met. The two teams had some memorable games last season, including a regular-season tilt that Glenn won at the buzzer, and then the Lady ’Canes upset victory at Glenn in the playoffs. Westhampton Beach opened the game in a traditional 2-3 defense, and that seemed to have an adverse effect on its offense. Once it switched to a trap defense, the Lady ’Canes scored five consecutive points halfway through the first quarter, forcing Glenn to call a timeout.

Westhampton Beach maintained a slim lead through the first quarter but then increased it to 10 points by halftime and maintained that lead through the third quarter. Glenn held the Lady ’Canes scoreless for the first four and a half minutes or so of the fourth quarter to pull within five, but after a Layla Mendoza layup off a nice feed from Amanda White, Molly McCarthy drained a wide-open three-pointer to push the Lady ’Canes lead back to 10 at 42-32.

Mendoza, who was fed the ball quite a bit in the paint, had 25 points and 13 rebounds, while Belle Smith led the defensive charge with 10 steals and also had 13 points. Molly Skorobohaty had 10 rebounds, two blocks and three assists.

Prior to its victory over Glenn, Westhampton Beach defeated Pierson/Bridgehampton, 54-36, on December 4, defeated Eastport-South Manor, 45-42, on December 2, lost to Ward Melville, 54-29, on November 25, and defeated Hauppauge, 49-47, in the season opener on November 22. All were non-league games.

Westhampton Beach played at Bayport/Blue Point on Tuesday and is scheduled to host Shoreham/Wading River on Thursday, December 12, at 4 p.m. It will play at Amityville on Monday, December 16, at 4 p.m.

The Westhampton Beach boys basketball team played its League VI opener at Glenn and wasn’t as successful as the girls, falling, 76-53. Josh Fenner tallied a triple-double for the Knights with 40 points, 11 rebounds and 10 steals. Jaden AlfanoStJohn scored a team-high 15 points for Westhampton Beach.

Prior to the loss to Glenn, the Hurricanes won their previous two non-league games defeating Bridgehampton, 79-18, and Eastport-South Manor, 71-67, the latter of which needed overtime to decide the outcome. Shavar Coffey scored seven of his 10 points in the extra frame to help lead the ’Canes to the victory. AlfanoStJohn scored a team-high 20 points and Will Razzano scored 19.

Westhampton Beach hosted Bayport/Blue Point on Tuesday, will play at Shoreham/Wading River this Saturday morning at 10 a.m. and will host Amityville this Monday, December 16, at 4 p.m.