Monomoy Girls’ Comeback Falls Short Against Mashpee In Winter Fest Consolation

HARWICH – Every time the Monomoy girls basketball team cut it close, Mashpee answered to reestablish breathing room. 

 In the end, the Falcons held off the Sharks’ comeback bid to earn a 49-38 win on Monday in the consolation round of the Winter Fest Tournament. 

 “We didn’t have many strong moments in the first quarter, but they kept fighting,” Monomoy coach Craig Andrews said. “I’m really proud of some of the younger girls that had a chance to step up — our bench was short because we had some girls that were away on vacation.”

 The fact that Monomoy (8-11) was shorthanded didn’t stop the team from mounting a second-half comeback after trailing 15-0 at the end of the first quarter and 29-14 at halftime. 

 The Sharks trimmed their deficit to 37-25 by the end of the third quarter before an early fourth-quarter surge cut Mashpee’s lead to single digits midway through the fourth. 

After freshman Ava Pina made a layup to make it 39-35 with 4:28 remaining, Monomoy hung tough over the two minutes before Mashpee pulled away in the last 1:30.

“Everybody bought in,” Andrews said. “When you go through a negative stretch, it can be a little harder to buy in, but today we came back and we matched their intensity.”

Senior Jojo Ready scored a team-high 13 points to lead the Sharks, Pina finished with eight and eighth-grader Olivia Sanford chipped in six.

While the underclassmen were able to shine, Monday also served as the final home game for Ready and her senior co-captain, Fiona Moore.

“I can’t even describe it. It’s almost nostalgic,” said Ready, a Chatham resident. “Whenever we do our pregame stuff, I always think about the seniors from the last four years, and now I’m in their position.”

Both seniors said one of their biggest takeaways from the season was having the opportunity to help the team grow closer throughout the season.

“Being able to be a captain with one of my best friends since birth is something I will keep close to me,” said Moore, also a Chatham resident. “We are all such a close family. We win and lose together, we cry, we laugh, we sing — we have so much fun and we do so much together.”

Although Monday marked the team’s fourth consecutive loss, Ready and Moore were proud of the way the Sharks turned their season around. The team went 7-2 in its last nine games to put itself in contention for a Division 4 state tournament berth. 

“It was difficult, of course, but it proves we have the ability to win and we’re really good when we work together as a team,” Ready said. “When we started doing things right, things flowed and we were able to win.”

Andrews is hopeful the team can finish the regular season on a winning note when it travels to Barnstable at noon Tuesday, after The Chronicle’s deadline. 

“We had a 7-2 run, and now we’re on an 0-4 slide,” the coach said. “The game against Barnstable (on Tuesday) is another game we should compete in. We competed well with them at home, so there’s still a chance we might sneak in [to the state tournament] somehow.”