Monomoy Girls Basketball Earns Back-to-back Wins

HARWICH – The Monomoy girls basketball team appears to have turned a corner. 

 After suffering back-to-back home losses to Barnstable (50-40) and Dennis-Yarmouth (48-13), the Sharks are back on track. 

 Monomoy strung together a pair of victories, beating Cape Cod Academy 44-36 on Jan. 14 before rolling to a 46-24 win at Wareham on Friday. Although the Sharks fell to 3-6 following a 44-32 loss to Mashpee on Monday, head coach Craig Andrews said he’s pleased with his team’s response since the D-Y loss.

 “We are starting to find out what our identity is and people are starting to accept their roles,” Andrews said. “As much as the Nauset game (a 40-38 loss on Dec. 20) stung to lose and we had all the time off around Christmas, they worked really hard.”

 Junior Kiley Mawn sparked the Sharks in the CCA win with a career-high 27 points. The junior finished with three 3-pointers, five buckets in the paint, and an impressive 8-of-10 shooting from the foul line.

 “Kiley had a very good game,” Andrews said. “It’s the capabilities she has. We’re not a big team — everybody is marginally the same size — so the biggest thing she’s been doing is scoring more points inside than outside, even though she had some big 3-pointers.”

 The Sharks have also benefited from strong play from eighth graders Olivia Sanford and Emma Ayer, the latter of whom provided a spark with nine points during the CCA victory.

 “Basketball is an unusual sport that someone younger can come in and make their mark,” Andrews said. “I knew what Emma was capable of; she’s got traction. There’s a chemistry element with Emma and Olivia. When they are on the floor together they play together well.”

 Despite being without Mawn in Friday’s game against Wareham, the team was still able to roll to a lopsided win behind a team-high 17 points from senior Jojo Ready. Sophomore Amanda McIsaac helped lead the scoring efforts with eight points, while Andrews praised the players’ team defense as one key that helped the Sharks pull away.

 Following Monday’s loss to Mashpee, Monomoy currently sits at No. 42 in the MIAA power rankings that were released Tuesday morning. Andrews has been keeping close tabs on the rankings and believes the Sharks are in position to crack the top 32 by season’s end if the players continue on the path they established in recent weeks. 

 “If the progression we’re putting together right now continues, by the end of the week we could be in a good spot,” Andrews said.