Girls’ Basketball Rebounds Against Milton

Girls’ varsity basketball bounced back from a devastating 72-53 loss to Loomis Chaffee School on Saturday to rally for an impressive 64-52 win against Milton Academy on Wednesday afternoon. Big Red now sits at 2-1 to start the season and is trending in the right direction with a big game against Tabor Academy coming up this Saturday.The team improved in almost all facets of the game, both offensively and defensively. “We did a really good job being aggressive on defense and a good job moving the ball on offense,” prep Charlotte Polk said. Upper Michaela Streep agreed, adding in that the team’s rebounding played a crucial part to the win as well. “We didn't do a good job rebounding against Loomis but today was way different. We won the boards,” Streep said.Exeter came out with high intensity to start the game, and the whole rotation maintained it throughout the first half. “We worked well as a team, especially during the first half,” lower Maya Blake said. “We did a pretty good job of starting off strong. The refs weren't giving us that many calls but we stayed tough on defense regardless,” Polk said. The team also picked up the pace at the end of the game, finishing off Milton down the stretch. “We played our best at the end of the game, in the last eight minutes or so,” Blake said.Though the whole team played well, upper Peace Kabari and post-graduate Erika Steeves were the stars of the game. “All of our guards played well, shooting the ball efficiently and handling it with confidence. Peace played really well,” Polk said. Streep pointed out Steeves’ strong work on the boards and in the paint as well as Kabari’s defense. “Erika had a great game today. She did some great work in the paint. Also Peace was amazing on defense, she was relentless. She pressured the ball handlers a lot and forced turnovers,” Streep said.

Grabbing this win swung Exeter’s momentum favorably going into the next game. “Getting this win will do a lot for our team mentality going into the next couple of games. We have a big game coming up this Saturday against Tabor, in which we will really need to push up our level of intensity and focus,” Blake said. Though the team channeled a good level of energy for this win, they will need to step it up another level against Tabor.The girls have worked very hard and played well to this point in the season. However Tabor, undefeated so far this season, will prove one of the team’s toughest tests. Prep Ella Johnson is optimistic about the season outlook after this win. “I would say we have had a pretty good start to the season, we are only going to get better. So yes, I think this puts us on track and if we carry out our energy and hustle to the upcoming game against Tabor on Saturday, then I think it should be a good game,” Johnson said. The team has to make the tough trip to Tabor this Saturday, putting them at a disadvantage, but this is a mentally strong team and they should be able to grab the win on Saturday.