Season Preview: Girls Hoops Starts New Era Under Angela Paterson

The girls basketball team finished with a 9-10 record last season and fell just short of the postseason. But this year they enter the season with a new opportunity and are hoping to win double digit games with Angela Paterson at the helm leading the program as their new head coach.

Paterson, who graduated from Nantucket High School in 2009 and is a 1,000 point scorer, said she is starting to settle into the role and is excited about the players she is coaching in year one.

"It's been awesome. It's been a little nerve wracking at first because you go from an assistant to the head coach, and it's kind of a new experience for me, but I know four of the returning players, and they've been helping with leadership," Paterson said. "I have a great assistant coach in Jordyn Perry. She's got coaching under her belt with coaching JV field hockey. It's all coming together.”

Nantucket will be led by senior captain Marin Mooney and junior captain Madden Myers. Paterson said that not only are they excellent players on the court, but dependable leaders that have the respect of her coaches and teammates.

“Throughout even just starting practice, I can look to them and just ask them if practice is going off the rails a little bit, they can reel them in,” Paterson said. “They're also going to be two players to look out for. We also have two young freshmen coming in, Chloe Washington and Ruby Steadman. Ruby will be our point guard. Chloe's going to be our shooting guard and can also transfer over to the point guard as well. I think they're going to be a huge help in getting points on the board. I know we struggled a bit last year with scoring here and there. Hopefully we won't have that issue this year, but I think we're looking good.”

Paterson said having played for Willis Ferreira while he was the varsity girls basketball coach, as well as other coaches throughout her career including in college at Westfield State, that there are things from several coaching minds she can pluck and insert into her coaching arsenal as she begins her own career.

"I've actually told Willis I'd be looking to him for advice on a lot of things," Paterson said. "He was my head coach for four years. I had a great coach in college as well. I played AAU basketball with many different coaches. So I definitely had throughout my basketball career different coaching styles, and I think I'm able to take little bits of that from each coach. Also last year being under Jill Fraker, was huge. Her coaching style was great. I think it is just about being there for the kids and as long as they have fun and win some games.”

Paterson, who is a Nantucket police officer, began her first year as a school resource officer this fall. She said that has helped her familiarize herself with and get to know many of the kids in the school, which has helped her familiarize herself and establish relationships with her players.

Nantucket begins their season at home on Thursday, December 11^th against the Monomoy Sharks at 5 p.m. You can view their full schedule here.