Westhampton Beach Girls Basketball Returns Solid Team Now Playing in Class AA; Boys Will Be Young, But Coach Is Okay With That

The Westhampton Beach girls basketball team went into last season as a bit of an unknown with young talent. They more than proved themselves by going 18-2 and easily qualifying for the Suffolk County Class A playoffs, where they were ousted in the first round by an equally talented but maybe more experienced West Babylon team.

After graduating just two players, Kylah Avery and Laurette Schaumloffel, who will be sorely missed for the various roles they had on the team, the Hurricanes are reloaded but will have to prove themselves again as they’ve moved up to Class AA due to the state’s expansion to a sixth AAA class for the largest schools based on enrollment.

Westhampton Beach will now play in League IV with some familiar and not-so-familiar teams such as Comsewogue, East Islip, Eastport-South Manor, Half Hollow Hills West, Hauppauge, Rocky Point and Smithtown West. Hurricanes head coach Katie Peters said her team is focusing on the little things early that hopefully will lead to big things later on down the road.

“Our short-term goal is to get 1 percent better every day and focus on the opponent we have in front of us each game day,” she said. “Our long-term goal is evolving with each day that passes. Our team understands that in order to be great, we have to focus on the little things each day in practice and push each other to get better. Our team is all-in, and are willing to do what it takes collectively to achieve a playoff bid. This group of girls truly plays with a we-over-me mentality, sometimes to a fault.

“Some expectations we have is to apply defensive pressure which feeds our transition offense,” Peters added. “Our girls are conditioned to playing fast, but are also understanding the need to play settled when a transition bucket isn’t in the cards.”

There will be several familiar faces in the lineup this season, starting with seniors Jane Atkinson, Sarah Gormley and Zoe Stokes, junior Shannon Sweet, All-County sophomore Sandra Clarke and fellow sophomore Jasmine Taylor and freshman Kate Sweet, who was All-Conference last season. Atkinson, Gormley, Clarke and Shannon Sweet are team captains.

New to the team this season are juniors Kara McCormack and Izzy Schneider and eighth-grader Chloe Blowes. And while he may be new to the girls’ program, Bill Hempfling, a familiar face around the halls of Westhampton Beach and the basketball court, has joined up with Peters as an assistant coach. Hempfling was a longtime coach of the boys team, during the program’s state championship days and later on as varsity head coach.

So far, through three nonleague games, things have looked good for the ’Canes, as they’ve won all three, two in lopsided fashion over Southampton and Mattituck, and then a 54-52 victory at Longwood this past Friday. Atkinson hit the winning shot with 6.1 seconds left to win it for Westhampton Beach. Kate Sweet scored 21 points and had six steals, Clarke added 16 points and seven assists and Blowes grabbed 15 rebounds.

After practice on Tuesday, the girls went Christmas shopping for Christmas Magic, an organization on Long Island that donates toys and Christmas wishes to underprivileged children. To help their efforts, the team hosted a fundraiser later that night at Mixology in Westhampton Beach, where if the girls basketball team is mentioned at the point of sale, 10 percent of the profits will go to their fundraiser.

The girls were back on the court for another nonleague game Wednesday against Pierson/Bridgehampton, and will play at Commack this Friday, December 8, at 4:45 p.m. before playing at Sayville on Tuesday, December 12, at 4:30 p.m.

Boys Are Young,

But That’s OK

The Westhampton Beach boys basketball team went 7-13 overall in their first season under head coach Connor Davis, and following the season graduated seven seniors, among whom were Quinn McCormack and Avery Merrihew. While there are a number of returning players this season, Davis said the team overall is going to be pretty young, but he was quick to say that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

“Being young is a good thing this year. There a lot of kids eager step in at that varsity level,” Davis said. “There will be some young mistakes, but I’m okay living with those mistakes. We encourage ample opportunity to produce at the varsity level, and I think the youth and the energy and the hunger for the game, the willingness to do the little things will present itself early on this season. We’re all capable of a lot of things, but we want everyone to be willing to do the little things to impact the game.”

Jorden Bennett is one of the key returning players for the ’Canes this season. He was All-League as a sophomore last season. Andrew Mensch is also returning for his senior year after being named the Unsung Hero of the league last season. Eddy Arguello, Isaiah Ortiz and Hunter Sterling are additional seniors who are returning to the team. Truman Hahn was a late-season call-up to varsity last season and is also returning as a sophomore. The rest of the roster is rounded out by juniors Aden Ali and Dante Quinones and sophomores Jude Allen, Malachi Bullock and Levi Emerson.

Like the girls, the boys have moved up to Class AA and will play in League IV with Amityville, Comsewogue, East Hampton, East Islip, Eastport-South Manor, Half Hollow Hills West, Hauppauge, and Rocky Point.

“I think our goals and expectations are to improve every game, to battle every game, every possession, and fixing the little mistakes and building upon those, moving forward,” Davis said. “Once we get into league play, we want to be giving ourselves the best opportunity to win. I think we can shoot for the playoffs. I think that’s something that’s on the table for us, but it’s going to be a game-by-game situation. We really haven’t talked about wins and losses. We’ve talked about how we’re in quarter one right now and we’ve broken the season up into four quarters. Right now, we’re getting in shape and learning new offenses and defenses and honing in on that team aspect and how we can only control what we can control. We control our own destiny with how we play.”

The ’Canes lost their only game of the season thus far, 68-59, at home to Longwood on Saturday. They hosted Pierson in another nonleague game on Tuesday and will host Hampton Bays this Friday, December 8, at 6 p.m. before opening the league schedule at home on December 13 against East Hampton at 4:30 p.m.