Exeter Wins Battle of the Harpers in Season-Opening Victory Over Boyertown

Exeter and Boyertown came into Wednesday's non-league girls basketball matchup with the same defensive game plan: Stop the opposing team's Harper.

The Eagles executed their game plan on more possessions and came away with a season-opening 49-37 victory over the Bears in Boyertown.

Exeter wing Addison Harper and Boyertown post Rhian Harper entered their sophomore seasons with an expected boost in production after each made a big impact as freshmen.

Exeter's Addison Harper guarding Boyertown's Rhian Harper Wednesday night. (PhilMarPhoto)

Facing off against each other can be a little peculiar. It's not often the cousins are rooting against each other. In the end, as their families joined after the game, Addison Harper was able to deliver the bragging this season after Boyertown beat Exeter 30-29 last season.

“It's funny playing against your cousin," said Addison Harper, who finished with a game-high 17 points. "It feels like you joke around half the time. I mean, we were on the foul line. She wasn't joking, but it was just funny. Especially when I guarded her. I got the chance to guard her for a little bit. It was fun.”

Rhian Harper averaged 7.5 points per game and 9.1 rebounds per game last season with the Bears and is a physically imposing presence in the paint. Exeter's plan was to send help and double her whenever she touched the ball.

She will be the focal point for a lot of opponents this season after the graduation of top scorer Madelyn Weaver, who is now playing at Arcadia.

Addison Harper, an all-division honorable mention pick last season who averaged a team-high 8.6 ppg, does a bit of everything. At 5-9, she has the size, handle, and shot to get to her spots on the floor if she gets the ball in her hands.

Boyertown's plan was to face guard her and play box-and-one defense, but she played smartly off of screens from teammates to get free.

“I try to get my teammates involved, but I'm also trying to get off screens so I can create more open space," Addison Harper said of being face guarded. "I try to keep my composure and not let my emotions get too high.”

She hit three 3s and scored 13 points in the first half as the Eagles (1-0) built a 26-18 lead over the Bears (1-1).

Exeter's Addison Harper puts up a jumper as Boyertown's Rhian Harper defends. (PhilMarPhoto)

Exeter's focus on Rhian Harper worked in the first two quarters as Addison Harper, Chayse Flood, Lillie Keperling, Ayana Freese, Chloe Dauble, Avrie Hassler, and Mairead Dolan all had the unpleasant duty of trying to stop her in the post at some point. The effort resulted in only two first-half points points for Boyertown's big.

“We knew they were going to try and go through two players specifically, and I think we did a good job limiting their opportunities," Exeter head coach Derek Wolfe said of Rhian Harper and Boyertown senior guard Chloe Enger.

“We knew it had to be a team effort to stop Harper. If they threw it over the top, there was someone else available, and we pinched it. The effort was awesome all night.”

Exeter started the second half strong with a 6-1 run and pushed its lead to 32-19 as Boyertown's attention on Addison Harper started to give open looks to Dauble and Keperling, who finished with seven of her 11 points in the fourth quarter to ice the game for the Eagles.

Dauble, a familiar last name in Reiffton with older brother and senior Aidan wrapping up a stellar high school sports career, had a stellar game herself Wednesday.

“I definitely tried to be like him when I was younger," Dauble said. "I was always outside trying to play with him and keep up, which gave me a little edge.”

The sophomore finished with 14 points (six in the third quarter), six rebounds, two assists, and two steals, including a crafty reverse layup with her off hand in the second half. An all-around performance her older brother would surely be proud of.

“I worked a lot on that [reverse] in practice," Dauble said with a grin. "I’m right-handed, so I was glad to make that. I definitely had some nerves as a freshman, but I feel like I shook all those off, and I feel a lot more comfortable on the court now."

Exeter's Chloe Dauble drives to the rim against Boyertown. (PhilMarPhoto)

Addison Harper echoed those statements: “I feel really comfortable. I feel more vocal and more confident than freshman year. Because freshman year, I was kind of like, new to varsity, everything. But now I know what goes on in varsity.”

They form a group of youngin' underclassmen with freshmen Avrie Hassler and Aubrey Rushin — who had some duties covering Rhian Harper in the second half — hoping to mesh with the upperclassmen and get Exeter back to the Berks II crown and beyond.

Wednesday was a good start and confidence-builder toward reclaiming that goal.

"This is a really big positive for us toward our goal of winning the division title,” Harper said.

The last time the Eagles had a player of Harper's caliber, all-time leading scorer Grace Reedy was leading them to back-to-back Berks II titles. That streak was broken by Twin Valley last season.

	1	2	3	4	Final
Exeter	9	17	12	11	49
Boyertown	7	11	8	11	37

Eagles (1-0)	FG	FT	3’s	A	R	Points
Harper	7-13	0-0	3-4	3	8	17
Flood	1-5	0-0	0-1	1	4	2
Keperling	3-9	5-8	0-2	2	1	11
Freese	1-5	0-0	0-0	2	3	2
Dauble	6-10	2-3	0-0	2	6	14
Hassler	1-4	0-0	1-3	1	0	3
Dolan	0-2	0-0	0-0	1	2	0
Rushin	0-2	0-0	0-0	0	1	0
K. Karasek	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0
M. Karasek	0-1	0-0	0-0	0	0	0
Redding	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0
Totals	19-51	7-11	4-10	12	25/30	49

Bears (1-1)	FG	FT	3’s	A	R	Points
Harper	4-6	4-11	1-1	1	8	13
Engler	5-11	1-2	3-7	4	2	14
Wieber	1-5	0-0	0-3	0	1	2
Kindig	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	1	0
K. Ryan	0-3	2-6	0-3	0	3	2
Shimukonas	1-2	0-2	0-0	1	4	2
Marshall	2-3	0-0	0-0	0	2	4
Martin	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0
P. Ryan	0-1	0-0	0-1	0	1	0
Heacock	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0
Totals	13-31	7-21	4-15	6	22/25	37

Turnovers: Exeter 19, Boyertown 31. Team rebounds: Exeter 5, Boyertown 3.