RallyNorth.net

Fishermen freshman Cain providing early-season spark

Friday, January, 04 By Matt Langone
Sports editor

Last year's Gloucester girls basketball team and this year's Fishermen squad currently share something in common, and the stress in on the word currently.

As of now, Gloucester has won four games, which matches the team's total from last year's disappointing 4-14 record. Of course, it doesn't appear that the similarity will be here for the long run, because this year's Fishermen have a 4-2 record and appear poised to rack up several more victories with more than half of the season remaining.

There is also a glaring difference between the Fishermen of last winter compared to this winter and it has been partly responsible for the improvement in Gloucester's record.

That difference would be freshman point guard Hannah Cain.

The 5-foot-7 righty has been a steady floor general for Gloucester so far this winter and is also the team's leading scorer at 12.3 points per game. With Cain running the point, the Fishermen look to be in good shape to get back to the state tournament.

"Hannah is a tremendous competitor and she sets very high expectations for herself," said Gloucester head coach Jon Flanagan on Wednesday night after his star freshman registered 19 points and seven steals in a 66-42 win over Amesbury. "She is very athletic, so we expected her to contribute this year."

While the scoring contributions have been nice, it was Cain's defensive tenacity that caught the eye of Flanagan last summer.

"Her defensive intensity is what we want from all of our players," said Flanagan, whose team will host rival Danvers tonight at 7. "She got a chance to play with the rest of the girls over last summer and she fit right in immediately."

To elaborate on Cain's toughness, Flanagan noted a time earlier this season when Cain took an elbow to the eye at practice, went to the hospital to get stitches and returned to the court the next day ready to play.

"If practice was still going on when she got out of the hospital, she probably would've returned and played," joked Flanagan.

When you ask Cain about her transition to the varsity level, she won't hesitate to say that she was a little weary at the beginning, especially being the only freshman on the varsity team.

"I knew some of the girls at the beginning," said Cain. "But I was still nervous. I was wicked nervous actually. But after a while, it was easy to get used to it."

Cain has received plenty of help from the veteran players on the team. Junior captain Lindsey Rogers is averaging double-figure points (10.2), senior guard Jill Lukegord has played well and sophomore guard Olivia Lufkin (8.2 ppg) has also been a standout as a distributor, coming off a 10-assist performance against Amesbury.

The Fishermen are a young team that has been built on balance thus far, which has helped relieve added pressure on Gloucester's first-year point guard. That's allowed Cain to maintain simple individual goals for the season.

"I just want to help the team win games," said Cain.

So far, she's doing just that.