HARWICH – The late Tom Petty famously sang “The waiting is the hardest part.” The Monomoy girls basketball team knows exactly what the rock 'n' roll legend was saying. The Sharks moved one step closer toward their goal of winning the Cape and Islands League’s Lighthouse Division title on Thursday when they erased a seven-point fourth-quarter deficit en route to a 52-46 win over St. John Paul II. The team...

HARWICH – What a difference a month can make. A little less than a month after the Cape Cod Tech boys basketball team eked out a 40-39 win at Falmouth Academy on Jan. 9, the Crusaders showed just how far they’ve come when they welcomed the Mariners to Harwich for a rematch Monday night. Cape Tech had its way in every facet of the game, cruising to a 70-39 victory behind junior Trevor Ryone’s season-high 33 ...

NORTH EASTHAM – The Nauset boys basketball team has finally found its footing. After a jumbled start of the season that saw the Warriors rotate wins and losses, the team has settled in to play some of its best basketball when it matters the most. Following back-to-back losses to Cape Cod Academy on Jan. 21 and Old Rochester two days later, Nauset (8-7) has strung together three straight wins over Falmouth (...

NORTH EASTHAM — Leo Miller impacted a lot of Nauset students during the nearly 40 years he spent coaching the high school’s basketball team. All you have to do to recognize Miller’s greatness is to look up at the walls in the school gymnasium, where a banner is raised to celebrate Miller’s 600 th  career win. Although he died in 2016, his legacy lives on and is very much a part of the basketball fabric at Naus...

HARWICH – Ask Brent Warren what separates good players from great players and he’ll tell you that a great player’s impact extends beyond himself. “The sign between a good player and a great player is a great player makes everyone around them play better,” Warren said. “Larry Bird made everybody around him play better.” It’s only fitting that on a night that Warren praised the Boston Celtics’ legendary No. 3...

BUZZARDS BAY – A team doesn’t always need to be perfect in order to pass a test. Although the Dennis-Yarmouth/Cape Cod Tech/Cape Cod Academy boys co-op hockey team was unable to upend defending Division 4 state champion Sandwich in back-to-back games, the Dolphins proved they belong — and can hang with — the Bay State’s best. Just two days after suffering a 2-1 loss to Sandwich at the Tony Kent Arena, the D...

ORLEANS – It can be difficult for a team to settle into a penalty-filled game. The Cape Cod Furies hardly felt comfortable on Saturday when they suffered a 4-0 loss to Sandwich in a game that featured 12 penalties, with each team receiving six infractions. “In a game that’s kind of choppy like that, it’s really hard to find some rhythm,” first-year Furies coach Zach Wells said. “Especially when you’re fight...

If there was ever any doubt about the Nauset boys and girls swimming and diving programs’ place in the Cape and Islands League, the Warriors set the record straight over the weekend. Following victories over Sandwich on Jan. 26, both the boys and girls earned at least a share of the league’s regular-season titles. The boys finished 6-0 and won the boys title outright with their 86-77 win over Sandwich, whil...

ORLEANS – It didn’t take Zach Wells long to realize the talent Olivia Avellar possesses. As an assistant coach for last year’s Cape Cod Furies, Wells got a glimpse of Avellar’s skillset while she played goaltender for the co-op team. “Obviously meeting Olivia last year, I was really impressed,” Wells said. “We brought in a goalie coach this year to work with her specifically because we saw how much talent s...

OSTERVILLE — Monomoy boys basketball coach Dan Taylor knew that his Sharks squad was going to face a substantial disadvantage this winter. In a sport where height and the ability to play near the rim often reign supreme, Monomoy has found itself undersized and overmanned in most of its matchups. “If we spiked our tallest kid’s hair, he might be 6 feet,” Taylor said, “and we’re going up against front lines t...

SANDWICH — With limited senior leadership and a young roster, Nauset’s first-year girls basketball coach Jean Leyton expected this year’s Warriors team to experience some growing pains. Finding consistency has been an issue for Nauset, which overcame a double-digit second-half deficit in a 46-40 win over Barnstable on Jan. 17 before struggling to stick with Sandwich in a 58-26 loss three days later. “I feel...

The majority of high school sports teams starts their season with goals. Many teams aim to win their respective league title, while others set their goals higher and vie for a state tournament appearance. Although many coaches preach the importance of navigating their season with a “one game at a time” approach, local Lower Cape teams are beginning to see where they stand among their peers that are also workin...