Exeter girls basketball able to hold off Nashua North to secure win (video)

NASHUA - The Exeter High School girls basketball team watched as Nashua North chipped away at the Blue Hakws' lead for the entirety of the second half.

But when the Titans finally got close enough to take the lead, Exeter held firm.

North pulled within two points with just under two minutes to play, the closest the Titans had been since the first 80 seconds of the game, but Exeter's defense came up with a stop and the Blue Hawks made enough of their free throws to hang on for a 50-44 win in a Division I contest Monday night.

Exeter led by as many as 15 points in the first half, and by 10 points early in the fourth quarter, but went scoreless for more than six minutes as North crept closer to the lead.

Lexy Rogers, who finished with a game-high 18 points, made 3 of 4 free throws and Nicole Melick added 1 of 2 from the foul line in the final 32.6 seconds to close out the win.

“We just kept calm and kept our composure,” Rogers said. “We’ve got to be together in this and we’ve got to work hard. The free throws came down to a big part of it, too.”

Rogers also hit three 3-pointers while Jessica Melick had 11 points and Nicole Melick finished with eight for the Blue Hawks (8-4).

“I think overall we played well,” Exeter coach Kaylene Rogers said. “We let up. The game got closer and closer, and we ended up stretching out the lead and playing tough. We made the right decisions and played as a team, which was the key to the game.”

Madelyn Tino had 11 points to lead North (6-4), including a 3-pointer and a jump shot down the stretch that cut Exeter's lead to 46-44 with 1:50 remaining. Alaina Small added 10 points, including two of the Titans' eight 3-pointers, while Lily Small also had a 3 and finished with seven points.

But a tough first quarter that saw North miss its first six field goal attempts - five of them from 3 - and fall behind 14-2 before a late surge made it a seven-point game after one. A 10-2 run to open the second quarter put the Blue Hawks up 24-9 and led to a Titans timeout with 3:43 left in the half.

“Horrible first half, but great effort in the second half,” North coach Curt Dutilley said. “Sometimes you can’t quite dig yourself out of the hole. We tried to shoot ourselves out of mistakes, which sometimes we’ve been able to do because we have some good shooters. But when that’s not there, you have to recognize.”

During the first half, Exeter was able to use its size advantage to control the boards, with Jessica Melick (15 rebounds), Nicole Melick (seven) and Lexy Rogers (six) grabbing most of their rebounds in the first half.

“I feel like we really talked about, even though we are taller, everybody needs to get on a body,” Exeter’s Emme Kayes said. “Even some of our shortest guards got some rebounds. I think we really, no matter who was near the ball, we all need to box out.”

Exeter went into the half with an 11-point lead, and that was still the margin after a pair of free throws by Jessica Melick with 5:31 to go in the third quarter.

But then North started hitting its outside shots, with Kathleen Schreiner, Alaina Small and Angie King each knocking down a 3 on consecutive possessions. With the lead all of a sudden down to five points, Exeter took a timeout.

The teams traded baskets the rest of the way, until a 3 by Lily Small just before the buzzer cut the Blue Hawks' lead to 42-36 going into the fourth.

“Strategizing against them was tough because we knew that they have all five parts working,” Kaylene Rogers said. “We were able to get out on their 3-point shots (in the first half), which was big. When we let off a little bit, they started hitting them.”

Quick baskets by Mia Dinneen and Nicole Melick to start the fourth put Exeter up 46-36, but the Blue Hawks wouldn't score again until Lexy Rogers' free throws in the final minute. Schreiner hit another 3 for the Titans to cut the to seven points, but then North also failed to score for the next three minutes.

Tino finally ended the scoreless drought when she forced an Exeter turnover and eventually got the ball back for an open 3 to make it 46-42 with 2:46 remaining. The sophomore added a baseline jumper moments later to get the Titans within two.

But then North started fouling early, eventually putting Exeter into the bonus.

“We didn’t have to be in full-scramble mode, which we had to be in up to that point,” Dutilley said. “We didn’t quite yet have to do that.”