Eagles winning with Grace, and having a grand time doing it
2023 Berks basketball coverage presented by
Utilities Employees Credit Union
By Sean McBryan — MikeDragoSports.com correspondent
Grace Reedy needed 28 points Monday to reach 1,000 in her prolific high school career.
That might seem like a difficult task, even for Reedy, who was averaging 23.3 points per game. The high-scoring Exeter senior cruised past that mark with a 34-point performance — one away from her career high — to become the fourth girl and 11th player to score 1,000 points for Exeter.
“I was thinking about it,” Reedy admitted after the game. “But I was also thinking about getting this win and I’m happy that we did.”
Reedy and the Eagles outlasted visiting Eastern York 63-61 Monday night, propelling them to a 4-0 start, their best in 10 seasons. They won their first five games of the 2013-14 season.
Reedy had 12 points in the first quarter and hit a 3-pointer with 4.3 seconds left to give the Eagles a 16-13 lead. She upped her total to 21 at halftime, though the Golden Knights (1-1) led 26-25.
Reedy drew a shooting foul with 4:03 left in the third quarter and the gym went silent. Everyone knew if she made both foul shots she would etch her name in the history books and join a club of 138 Berks County girls to reach the millennium mark.
She swished both shots.
“I always wanted it,” Reedy said of reaching 1,000. “I’d say it became more of a goal the closer I got.”
Reedy averaged 6.4 points as a freshman, the highest mark on an Exeter team that struggled to a 4-12 record in the cellar of Division I of the Berks Girls League. She shot 35% from the foul line.
She averaged 15.1 points as a sophomore as the Eagles again struggled in Division I. She worked to improve her foul shooting and did; she made them at a 67% clip.
Reedy went into her junior season with 389 career points, and Exeter moved to Division II. She led a girls basketball renaissance in Reiffton, with the Eagles winning the division and making their first BCIAA playoff appearance since 2015.
Reedy erupted for 513 total points and a 22.3 scoring average last season, the first Berks girl to average over 20 since Twin Valley’s Peyton McDaniel, who is currently playing at James Madison and scored over 2,000 points in high school.
Reedy’s free throw percentage again improved as a junior when she hit 71% and made a league-high 122 foul shots.
She needed 98 total points to eclipse 1,000 in her senior season and it didn’t take long. Those final points fittingly came at the foul line, where she currently converts at a 73% rate, a clear result of the endless hours she’s spent working on her game.
“That was pretty cool to get it on the foul line,” Reedy said. “I’m just happy I got it.”
Eagles fans burst into cheers when she reached the mark and the game was briefly stopped for her parents to come to midcourt so she could be presented with the game ball, a banner, and a plaque commemorating her accomplishment.
Reedy doesn’t care for the attention and would much rather go about her business quietly. She’s soft spoken, a young woman of few words; she prefers to let her play do the talking. Ironically her game is the furthest thing from soft, unless speaking about her pure shooting form.
The 5-10 wing bangs around down low and hits the deck multiple times throughout a game. She’s strong around the basket and it’s why she’s so adept at drawing fouls and finishing through contact.
“She is tough,” said Exeter head coach Derek Wolfe. “She doesn’t get enough credit for how much physicality she has to deal with. Defenders are all over her, double-teaming, triple-teaming every chance they get. She knows that and handles it well.”
Reedy also secured 10 rebounds and had seven steals. She helped the Eagles go on an 11-1 run to start the fourth quarter and regain the lead at 53-47 before Eastern York took a timeout with 4:32 left.
Reedy’s quiet swagger instills confidence in the rest of the team and it showed when role players Maggie Kopanski and Leah Schmid stepped up and drained clutch foul shots to seal the victory.
Kopanski hit two with 1:09 left to tie the game 59-59 and Schmid hit two to give the Eagles a 63-61 lead with 9.7 seconds left, a score that held.
Eastern York defeated Exeter 60-44 last season; Reedy had 30 in that one. She got her points but the team lost. This victory over the Golden Knights, who have a star of their own in Clarion commit Arianna Seitz (32 points, nine rebounds, five assists), shows Reedy’s continued growth as she picks her spots and trusts her teammates, ultimately resulting in team success.
“She’s committed,” Wolfe said. “She’s in the gym all of the time. She doesn’t take drills lightly during practice and always works hard. She never takes a play off.”
Reedy’s excellence will be remembered forever in the gymnasium rafters, where Exeter’s 1,000-point scorers hang on a banner. There’s a good chance she becomes Exeter girls’ all-time leading scorer; she needs 384 points to pass Cortney Crockett, 141 to pass Donna Luft, and 94 to pass Jennifer Eck.
She’s hoping to propel the Eagles to new heights before that happens; a few extra playoff games will only help her in that chase.
“Our teamwork and defense is much better,” Reedy said of the Eagles fast start. “The bond we have as a team is strong. I think it’s showing on the court. My teammates are awesome. I’m really thankful for them. I just want to win more as a team and see how far we can go.”
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Exeter | 16 | 9 | 17 | 21 | 63 |
| Eastern York | 13 | 13 | 20 | 15 | 61 |
| Eagles (4-0) | FG | FT | 3’s | A | R | Points |
| Reedy | 11-30 | 8-9 | 4-12 | 2 | 10 | 34 |
| Ware | 3-7 | 1-2 | 0-1 | 0 | 3 | 7 |
| Keperling | 1-8 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 2 | 6 | 2 |
| Fylypowycz | 2-7 | 3-4 | 0-0 | 3 | 8 | 7 |
| Kopanski | 1-4 | 2-2 | 0-0 | 0 | 6 | 4 |
| Schmid | 2-5 | 3-6 | 0-0 | 1 | 5 | 7 |
| Flood | 0-2 | 2-4 | 0-0 | 0 | 4 | 2 |
| Totals | 20-63 | 19-27 | 4-13 | 8 | 42/51 | 63 |
| Golden Knights (1-1) | FG | FT | 3’s | A | R | Points |
| A. Seitz | 10-19 | 8-14 | 4-9 | 5 | 9 | 32 |
| Townsley | 3-9 | 4-6 | 1-5 | 1 | 13 | 11 |
| A. Neal | 4-15 | 2-4 | 3-11 | 5 | 3 | 13 |
| E. Seitz | 1-4 | 2-4 | 1-3 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| J. Neal | 0-4 | 0-0 | 0-3 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Light | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0-2 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| Totals | 18-53 | 16-28 | 9-33 | 11 | 33/37 | 61 |
Turnovers: Exeter 15, Eastern York 18. Team Rebounds: Exeter 9, Eastern York 4.
