The Big Green handed a 4-0 Exeter squad their first “L” of the season on Saturday. The game got off to a shaky start despite Whitney Vogt ’20 winning the tip, as Exeter scored three points due to confusion on Deerfield’s part about defensive strategy. The team was rattled as Exeter continued to score, and though Deerfield got off a fair number of shots, none of them fell. Finally, 9th-grade starters Vera Menafee, Jane Mallach, and Molly Fischer helped to get Deerfield on the board. Still, Exeter remained ahead at 10-4, until Menafee scored six straight points off of strong passes down low which she transformed into clean layups to even up the score.
At the half, the tightness of the game motivated the Big Green to bring the intensity. Menafee continued to play well, and senior Lindsay Cureton hit several very necessary shots. The game was back-and-forth until Deerfield steadily pulled ahead thanks to capitalizing at the free-throw line once the team was into the bonus. Ultimately, though Exeter were well-matched and put up a good fight, the Deerfield team refused to get on the bus with a loss, and squeaked out a 27-24 victory.
Highlights of gameplay included aggressive rebounding from Fischer and great grabs on defense by Vogt, as well as baskets from Samara Cummings ’20 and Rachel Shuman ’17. Nicole Da Costa ’19 played her typical aggressive defense, hustling hard with the diamond press squad. Seniors Tarah Almonacy and Annie Roberts both put in work as posts, often effectively either making the layup or getting sent to the free-throw line. Jada Howard ’19 kept her head as point guard and had an amazing block when one of Exeter’s shooters got wide open in the three point range, absolutely denying her man. Overall, the team improved over the course of game play, executing plays more effectively and looking inside on offense in the second half.
The team looks forward to a matchup away at Williston on Wednesday. With a 3-1 record and improvements happening every day in practice, the Big Green feel good about their start to the season and anticipate stiff but well-matched competition in the coming weeks.