Sturgis East Girls Find Rhythm, Defeat Cape Cod Academy

Sturgis East’s Meaghan Fitzergald netted 18 points last night en route to the Storm’s 40-27 win over Cape Cod Academy.
Sean Walsh/capecod.com sports

OSTERVILLE — In life, everything is about balance.

Finding that balance amidst the hype and pressure last night, Sturgis East senior captain Meaghan Fitzgerald poured in a game-high 18 points to lead the Storm past the Cape Cod Academy Seahawks, 40-27, at the Academy’s Thomas Evans Gymnasium. Fitzgerald is just under 150 points shy of reaching the 1,000-point career milestone, according to Storm girls basketball head coach Ted Pappas.

In spite of Fitzgerald’s high-output at the Academy, the task of defeating the vastly improved Seahawks’ Five was nothing simple. The two teams remained deadlocked at 6-6 after the first quarter as the Academy’s Becca White went toe-to-toe with Fitzgerald and company. White finished the night with a team-high 16 points.

The second quarter proved differently for the Seahawks as the Storm took off running to build a 22-14 halftime lead.

“We let it get away from us,” Cape Cod Academy head coach Jeff Conlon said.

The Storm maintained and built upon that halftime lead in the third quarter, going up a notch with a 33-23 lead and then increased that deficit once more in the fourth for the 40-27 finale.

“(We) found our rhythm in the second half,” Pappas said. “Two of our freshman – Lauren Estep and Jill Doyle – both played well for us.”

While both Estep and Doyle had only two points apiece, it was their defensive pressure that helped keep the Seahawks at bay. The next highest scorer for the Academy girls, besides Fitzgerald, was Isabelle Lifton with four points on the night.

Fellow Storm captain Emma Nemes added a solid eight points for the girls in blue.

Cape Cod Academy (1-5) hopes to pick up another win on Tuesday (Jan. 20) when it hits the road versus Cape Cod Tech. Sturgis East will try to maintain its winning ways when it faces the South Shore Christian Academy today at 3:00 pm at the Hyannis Youth and Community Center.

Cape Cod Academy – 27
Lilly Burke 0-0-0
Katherine Wetzel 1-0-2
Morgan Farber 1-0-2
Isabelle Lifton 2-0-4
Becca White 5-6-16
Amber Wang 0-0-0
Victoria Alberico 1-1-3
Jojo Qiao 0-0-0
Briannah Rice 0-0-0

— Sean Walsh is the sports editor for www.capecod.com. His email is [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @coachwalshccbm