A team effort led to the Exeter girls basketball team earning its first win of the season as the Eagles defeated Warwick 39-29 Saturday afternoon at Reiffton.
Exeter (1-5) opened the game with 11-3 lead after the first quarter and maintained the margin for the remainder of the matchup. Mairead Dolan, Meredith Fylypowcyz and Chayse Flood each scored three points in the first, and Harper Addison, who finished with a team-high 10 points scored two in the opening quarter.
“I think it was a great team win,” Eagles coach Derek Wolfe said. “Everybody stepped up and played a little bit better than we played in the past. So I’m proud of them.
“It’s very relieving to get the win because I feel like we’ve played extremely hard. I couldn’t ask them to play harder than they played the whole season, but they just haven’t been able to get over that hump, mainly because of missing shots. But tonight, they put a few more into the basket than in the past.”
Exeter led 24-14 at the half and 30-22 after the third quarter. The Warriors came as close as six points off the lead early in the fourth at 32-26, but a steal and a score by Fylypowcyz sparked a strong defensive effort down the stretch.
The Eagles picked up three more steals in the fourth quarter and forced Warwick into five total turnovers over the final eight minutes. In addition to Addison’s 10 points, Dolan finished with eight points, Flood had five points and made the team’s only 3-pointer and Fylypowcyz also had five points.
“I think defensively, we’re all very committed to play and do make big plays on that end, but offensively, we’re still trying to find our groove,” Wolfe said.
While the Exeter girls found their groove to secure the win earlier in the afternoon, the boys basketball team fell to Spring-Ford 70-61 in the second game of the doubleheader at Reiffton.
The Rams came out with the hotter hand and started with an 11-2 lead before ending the first quarter with a 14-8 lead.
After leading 29-21 at the half, Spring-Ford scored the first 11 points of the second half to take a commanding lead it would ultimately keep for good.
Trailing 50-31 at the start of the fourth, the Eagles (1-3) got as close as 10 points off the lead at 66-56 midway through the quarter but could not overcome the powerful Rams’ offense that included multiple double-digit scorers.
For Spring-Ford senior Tommy Kelly scored a team-high 20 points, junior Syaire Barnes had 14 points, junior Jack Kennedy had 12 points and Jordan Marsilio scored 11 points.
“We’ve played three 6A schools and a 5A school that all made district and state playoff runs last year,” Exeter coach Jeff VanGorder said. “These teams returned main guys. We’re kind of infusing some new juniors and sophomores in the lineup that haven’t experienced varsity action. So they’re learning on the fly and they’re doing a good job at it.
“I’d much rather play the competition level that we’re playing right now than not. So this will help us down the line and get us ready for league play, which starts next week.”
Despite the result, the Eagles had some positive individual performances from their upperclassmen leadership. Junior Aidan Dauble scored a game-high 23 points and made three 3-pointers and senior Brady Murray scored 21 points and made a game-high five 3-pointers.
“Those two (Dauble and Murray) have to be our leaders,” VanGorder said. “They’re the captains, they’re the two returners in the starting lineup. They’ve helped the young guys out a little bit. They’re going to have to help us carry the load along with Carter (Redding), but those two have done a really, really good job doing what I’ve asked and helping to try to speed up some of the learning curve for the younger guys.
“So they’re going to keep getting better. We’ll keep getting better and I’m looking forward to the rest of the year.”
Source: Berkshire mont
Be First to Comment