Cape Tech Basketball Teams Will Try To Build On Last Year’s Success

HARWICH – Although the Cape Cod Tech boys and girls basketball teams each lost key contributors from last year’s teams to graduation, both Crusaders squads will look to build off the success they experienced after qualifying for their Division 5 state tournaments last winter.

“We lost a lot of leadership, but we have a lot of good leadership this year,” said Cape Tech boys coach Brent Warren.

Warren will look to senior guard Trevor Ryone to help lead the boys squad after being a valuable player for the Crusaders the past two seasons.

Although Warren is hopeful that Alex Valdovinos — the team’s projected starting center who hurt his knee during soccer season — will be able to return and provide valuable senior leadership, he’ll look to Ryone to carry that torch at the start of the season.

“Trevor is an undeniable basketball player,” Warren said. “Anyone that we’ve played knows Trevor. They knew him last year and from his sophomore year. He’s somebody that everybody has to deal with, and they know it.”

Ryone will be joined by upperclassmen Brady Grogan, Shaye Hautanen, Josh Cohen, Nick Millward and Rovens Jean-Baptiste.

“There’s a lot of good things that are going on,” Warren said. “I tell the kids, ‘It’s your team, I’m just here to guide it.’ It’s what you’re willing to put into the work that you’ll get out of it, just like anything else. I’m impressed with these guys. They are committed to each other.”

Warren said this year’s group has its sights set on competing for the Mayflower League’s Small Division title before hopefully making another postseason run in the Division 5 state tournament.

“Our goal this year is to take our league, the Mayflower Small,” he said. “We’ve got a very good opportunity to do it, as long as everyone shows up every day. They work very hard; we practice six days a week, sometimes seven. We’re just going to have to come together and work together.”

Cape Tech girls coach Nick Conti said the girls program is expecting a rebuilding year of sorts after graduating its two leading scorers, Jada and Lashae Miranda, from last year’s team, which also reached the Division 5 state tournament.

“We’re really young this season,” Conti said. “We have a lot of sophomores on the varsity team. We have three seniors, one junior, and then the rest are all sophomores and freshmen.”

Conti will rely on a trio of senior captains — Lindsey Payne, Sabrin Marchoud and Adelyn Burlingame — to carry the brunt of the leadership responsibilities alongside Julianna Santana and Caelyn Parris, two sophomores who are back after gaining valuable experience as freshmen last season.

Although the Crusaders will be playing a large group of sophomores, Conti said they are mature beyond their years after playing on the junior varsity team last winter.

“Our JV girls were mostly freshmen last season and the fact they played really well last season, they’ve had a lot of time to season themselves before coming into varsity,” he said.

With so many new faces and girls being expected to take on larger roles than past seasons, Conti said the key to the start of the season will be how quickly the Crusaders can come together and begin meshing as a group.

“It’s all about building chemistry on the court,” the coach said. “They’ve got to get comfortable with each other. They haven’t all been playing together for years, some only one year or others two. So they’ll have to come together, and we’ll see how they do.”