Fairfield — New London girls' basketball coach Holly Misto has a deeper rotation than in the past. Among her directives:

“You hustle, you stay out (on the floor). You play defense, you stay out. You listen, you stay out,” Misto said Tuesday night.

Enter sophomore Xaryia Melendez. Melendez was one of the people who found her way out on the floor quite often for the Whalers in Tuesday's 45-42 victory over Hand in the opening round of the 23rd Annual Notre Dame Catholic High School Appalachian Classic Basketball Tournament.

Melendez had nine points and eight rebounds for New London, ranked second in the GameTimeCT/New Haven Register preseason poll, having earned a spot in the starting lineup.

India Pagan, in foul trouble and beside Misto on the bench early, came back to finish with 12 points and 11 rebounds and Jada Lucas had 10 points for the Whalers (5-0), who will play Notre Dame in Thursday night's championship game. Notre Dame defeated Thomaston 53-41 in the second game of the doubleheader.

Hand (3-2) was not ranked in the preseason poll, but has already knocked off No. 3 Mercy.

Melendez is part of a young corps of frontcourt players, including fellow sophomores Spencer Roman and Taina Pagan, who complement India Pagan (headed to Division I Stony Brook) and who are trying to fill the void left by the graduation of all-state forward Charee Osborne.

“Just working hard in practice, trying to show coach I can hustle,” said Melendez of gaining the start against Hand. “At first I was excited. Now I'm not as nervous. It was exciting to sit on the bench freshman year … I took away a lot from that.”

“(Melendez is) very confident,” Misto said. “We're lucky we have a lot of the talent we have. Each kid has different strengths and weaknesses.”

Melendez had five points in the first quarter, after which the game was tied 11-11, including a three-point play.

She then picked up a loose ball and scored to give the Whalers the lead to begin the second quarter.

New London led by as many as 12 at 26-14 on two free throws by Taina Pagan with 1:05 left in the half and the Whalers held a 26-16 lead at halftime.

India Pagan, back on the floor with two fouls with about five minutes to play in the second quarter, gave her team a much-needed lift, immediately driving and scoring through the middle of Hand's zone defense and totaling six points before the end of the half as New London built its lead.

But Hand owned the third, outscoring New London 15-6 and pulling to within 32-31.

The lead flipped six times in the fourth quarter, including once on a 3-pointer from Lucas from well behind the line, straight on, making it 37-36 in New London's favor.

Hand took a 40-39 lead with 2:00 remaining when Gabby Martin hit both ends of a one-and-one, but New London's Cora Sawyer calmly made a shot from the left-hand corner just eight seconds later to put the Whalers back on top 41-40.

Melendez' jump shot with 1:14 to play made it 43-40 and Leilani McClellan, in the game for her ballhandling skills, nailed Lucas with a pass for an easy fast break basket that pushed it to 45-40.

Martin scored on a layup for Hand with 43.2 seconds remaining for the final margin.

New London defeated Hand 68-48 in the quarterfinals of last year's Class L tournament, when Hand coach Tim Tredwell said the Whalers had "every big kid in Connecticut."

“This is a good tournament with four really good teams,” said Misto, whose team won the Notre Dame Classic last year over Thomaston, beating Notre Dame in the opener in overtime. “You're just coming off the holiday, you don't know what you're going to get. Give Daniel Hand a lot of credit. They're quick, they hustle.”

Misto said she told India Pagan “don't you dare pick up your third foul” when she reentered the game in the second quarter.

The third quarter, allowing nearly as many points as the entire first half, also wasn't the coach's favorite.

“I told the kids, 'You have eight minutes left. You can either come Thursday and play for the championship or you can come and play in the consolation game,'” Misto said. “Those were two huge shots (by Lucas and Sawyer). And they didn't hesitate.”

v.fulkerson@theday.com