Defense helps lead Exeter girls basketball to road win against Windham (video)

WINDHAM - The Exeter High School girls basketball team opened the regular season as a incomplete puzzle.

Some returning pieces were missing and some new pieces were going to have to find a way to replace some other ones, but with each game, that puzzle has become closer to complete.

The Blue Hawks took another step toward that fuller picture Monday night, using multiple looks on defense to force Windham into a handful of turnovers. Exeter was able to capitalize on those miscues to come away with a 46-32 win over the Jaguars for its fourth-straight win in Division I action.

Jessica Melick and Lexy Rogers each had 14 points to lead the Blue Hawks (4-2) in scoring, while Melick added 10 rebounds and Rogers added eight steals. Nicole Melick chipped in seven points and Emme Kayes had a nice all-around game, with four points, five assists and seven rebounds.

“Windham always brings it, so we knew it was going to be a tough game and it was,” Exeter coach Kaylene Rogers said. “You never can let up because they’re going to go until the end.

“I thought our girls played really solid defense. We got steal opportunities, we looked down the floor. I think that was the difference in the game.”

Exeter was able to turn a lot of those steals, turnovers and defensive rebounds into transition baskets, starting in the second quarter. After a back-and-forth first, the Blue Hawks went on a 9-1 run during which the Jaguars (3-1) turned the ball over five times.

“We mixed it up a lot,” Kaylene Rogers said. “We knew they would be tough and they liked to drive, we were switching between a man and a zone (defense).”

The lead was 10 points, 25-15, for Exeter going into halftime and it was able to maintain a double-digit lead for most of the second half.

“I thought Exeter did a good job of jumping into our passing lanes in their matchup zone,” Windham coach Todd Steffanides said. “We’re still trying to figure that out, how we’re going to execute better against that. We’ve got a young squad, they’re a pleasure to work with every day. They’re certainly not lacking any focus or intensity.

“I thought we played with the high energy that we’re capable of, but we can’t just give the other team extra possessions like we did (Monday).”

Rileigh Finneran led Windham with 11 points and Grace Mondello was also in double figures with 10 points. But no one else had more than four for the Jaguars, as they were held well below the 55.7 points they averaged through their first three division games.

For Exeter, it was the third game in a row its held an opponent to 35 points or fewer, and the fourth game in a row its kept the opposition under 50, after the Blue Hawks opened the season allowing 51 or more in losses to Salem and Londonderry.

Those improvements have coincided with the return of players from injury and illness, along with contributions from newcomers to the varsity.

“It’s nice to have our returners come back and then we’re starting to fit the pieces together with some of our new players,” Kaylene Rogers said. “They were the missing piece that we were looking for this year, and I think they’re really coming together as a team and playing unselfishly.”