Grace Reedy, Exeter enjoying bounce-back season as they shoot for Berks II crown

By Sean McBryan — MikeDragoSports.com correspondent

Exeter junior Grace Reedy has been jostling for the Berks scoring lead with Fleetwood senior and Kansas State commit Alexis Hess throughout this season.

Reedy, who’s averaging 22.5 points, showed defensive moxie as part of her all-around game Friday at Reiffton as the Eagles topped Twin Valley 50-40 in a key Berks League Division II matchup. She scored a game-high 24 points and had a game-high 10 rebounds against the defending division champs.

“Grace has grown tremendously (since last year),” Exeter head coach Derek Wolfe said. “She trusts what we’re trying to do as a team more. Last year she didn’t really want to be in the forefront even though she was because of her talent. This year, she’s stepped up as a leader and it’s helped us.”

Reedy is listed at 5-9 but plays bigger than that. Her size allows her to make difficult shots over smaller defenders and stall offenses by blocking passing lanes.

She started the game hot, showing off fluid footwork on drives to the rim, drawing two and-ones, and scoring 12 first-quarter points as the Eagles (2-1, 4-6) jumped to a 19-7 lead.

Exeter controlled the second quarter as Reedy scored five and hit a 3-pointer; the Eagles man-to-man defense was working.

Twin Valley struggled to make shots and was down 30-14 at the break. Reedy outscored the Raiders, with 17 points.

The Raiders (1-2, 1-11) made adjustments during halftime and opened the third quarter with a 13-5 run.

Freshman dynamo Hailey Kilgore, who is averaging 13.2 points per game, was a large part of the Raiders run, scoring nine points in the quarter.

All of a sudden it was an eight-point game.

Exeter switched to a 3-2 zone after Twin Valley’s third-quarter run and clamped down with Reedy’s length frustrating the Raiders at the top of the zone.

The Eagles began to struggle offensively and needed the defensive effort; the Raiders went on an 8-2 run to make it 46-40 with 2:39 left but didn’t score another basket. Kilgore was held scoreless and the Raiders committed seven turnovers in the final quarter.

“We just kept trying our hardest and played good defense at the end,” Reedy said. “We got the win. We had to just keep putting the effort in.”

Scoring typically hasn’t been a problem for the Eagles, who came into the game averaging 45.6 points per game; the issue had been a defense that was allowing 48.4 points.

Friday’s win is a start in changing that and pushing for a division title, which would mean a Berks playoff appearance. It would be a pivotal building block for a program coming off a two-win season.

It helps that Exeter swapped division spots with Muhlenberg this season, dropping to Berks II from Berks I. The Eagles played Berks I contender Reading High tough this season — a 54-42 loss — and have already exceeded last season’s league (one) and overall (two) win totals.

A title in a wide-open division isn’t an unrealistic goal and Reedy is a major part of that.

“Our teamwork has just been a lot better,” Reedy said. “We are working well together this year. Our goal is to win the division.”

	1	2	3	4	Final
Twin Valley	7	7	18	8	40
Exeter	19	11	14	6	50

Raiders (1-2, 1-11)	FG	FT	3’s	A	R	Points
Kilgore	3-18	4-4	1-10	5	4	11
Lennon	4-13	1-2	1-8	1	1	10
Hurley	2-8	0-1	1-4	2	3	5
Schmittinger	2-4	1-4	0-1	0	1	5
Monaghan	2-2	0-0	0-0	0	1	4
Andressen-Wyatt	1-4	0-0	1-1	1	8	3
Hahn	0-2	0-2	0-0	0	2	0
Wheatley	0-1	0-0	0-0	0	0	0
McClune	0-0	0-0	0-0	2	1	0
D. Hoover	1-3	0-0	0-0	0	1	2
Totals	15-55	6-13	4-24	11	22-30	40

Eagles (2-1, 4-6)	FG	FT	3’s	A	R	Points
Reedy	9-19	5-10	1-3	1	10	24
Laverty	0-5	0-1	0-0	0	6	0
Ware	2-7	2-2	2-4	0	4	8
Fylypowycz	1-1	2-2	0-0	0	1	4
Kopanski	3-7	0-0	0-0	1	6	6
Noecker	0-2	2-4	0-0	1	6	2
Schafer	0-0	2-2	0-0	0	1	2
Flood	0-0	2-2	0-0	1	3	2
Schmid	1-2	0-0	0-1	0	0	2
Totals	16-43	15-23	3-8	4	37-44	50

Turnovers: Exeter 26, Twin Valley 20.