Girls’ Basketball Stomps on the Deerfield Doors

The girls’ varsity basketball team made the long bus ride down to Deerfield Academy this past weekend. Going into the game, a few key players had been ruled out with injuries. Despite being short-handed, Big Red smoked the home team, winning the game 58-44. The game extended their win streak to four and puts them at an even 4-4 record.

Over the past few seasons, Deerfield has been an easy win for the girls, but Exeter’s injuries made the playing field slightly more level. The depth of Big Red’s roster proved to be phenomenal: many girls who were usually on the bench stepped up and did a great job filling in for the injured starters.

“We had a lot of injuries before and during the match, so this win required a true full-team effort,” senior Julia Jackson explained.

“It feels like we are on the road to success with our winning streak right now.”

Big Red took control of the game from the opening jump ball, putting in a layup within the first few seconds and then going straight into the full-court press. The opening score was just the start of Exeter’s relentless offense, which left Deerfield in the dust.

The offensive successes continued when more players were subbed in, and by the end of the game, almost all the members of the team had put up points. In the practice leading up to the game, the girls had worked on shooting free throws. The practice paid off when they capitalized on almost all of the fouls, sinking all but one free throw.

Exeter’s prolific offense was impossible for Deerfield to keep up with because the girls also played excellent defense. No matter who was in the game, all the girls were on the same page defensively, which allowed them to put their opposition on lockdown for the majority of the game.

Lower Ella Johnson noted that the team’s defense would occasionally slip up and the score margin would be shrunken. But the girls made sure Deerfield could never make a full comeback, and responded with hustling back on defense and helping each other out.

With the girls scoring buckets and shutting Deerfield down on defense, they finally felt like they were back where they should have been. They have put their season back on track, mirroring their four straight losses with a four game win streak.

Playing well as a team on both offense and defense has been one of their main improvements throughout the season. Even though the girls are happy with their current win streak, they will not become complacent. Senior Peace Kabari expanded on the team’s thoughts after four straight victories. “[It] feels like we are on the road to success with our winning streak right now. I hope we can keep this up,” she said.

This Wednesday, the team will face Brewster Academy and then head to Choate next weekend. Hopefully, the girls will have time to recover from their injuries and will be able to add two more wins to their streak.