East Haven — It was the first time in recent days, thanks to the return of injured forward Xaryia Melendez, that New London High School girls' basketball coach Holly Misto could actually put all the pieces to her team on the floor together and see what it looked like.

The verdict?

Defense in the first quarter, when previously unbeaten East Haven scored 20 points: not so good.

Offense in the first quarter, when New London also had 20: A-plus.

Melendez, who missed the Whalers' previous three games with a concussion, finished with 26 points and Tai Pagan, her frontcourt partner in crime, had 14 points, 15 rebounds and a seemingly effortless eight blocked shots as New London remained unbeaten while handing East Haven its first loss of the season in a 69-55 victory Wednesday.

“I wasn't happy with the defense in the first half,” said Misto, whose team completed a three-game stretch of post-Christmas nonconference games with wins over Thomaston, Notre Dame of Fairfield and East Haven, pushing the Whalers to 7-0. “We needed to buckle down on defense in the second half.

“I was really happy with the offensive sets. … We haven't had Melendez for the past couple games. That helped us in the post. Her and Tai really play well together. Spencer (Roman, 5-foot-9 guard/forward) has been playing the post for us. That's quite a challenge.”

Melendez came off the bench and had four points in the first quarter. She did give the Whalers their first lead of the game, 18-17, on a pass from Pagan with 1 minute, 14 seconds to play in the quarter. She had eight at halftime.

Soon, though, the tandem of Melendez and Pagan began to wear on East Haven on both ends of the floor.

In addition to scoring, Melendez had seven rebounds, two assists and two steals. Rosi Nicholson had eight points, eight assists, four steals and four blocks and Roman had seven assists, many of them on inbounds plays.

East Haven came into the game with an identical 6-0 record and plenty of firepower for the Whalers to contend with.

Junior point guard Makenzie Helms, a transfer from Loomis Chaffee, was an All-New England selection last year and is being recruited to the Division I college ranks by Yale, Penn, Wake Forest, Wisconsin, Ohio State, Nebraska and Syracuse, among others.

Coach Anthony Russell's team, which won 40 games over the last two seasons, also boasts senior forward Kylie Schlottman, an all-state pick who averaged 19.2 points and 10.4 rebounds as a junior.

The Yellowjackets are the two-time defending Southern Connecticut Conference Quinnipiac Division champions.

They made themselves difficult to guard right away, too, against New London, spreading the floor well and able to find the open player. Sophomore Alexis Pendziwater hit a pair of 3-point field goals, one which gave East Haven a 12-5 lead.

“They run a very structured offense and they like to run their sets,” Misto said. “You can do that when you have a good point guard.”

New London scored seven straight points to tie it, however, on a drive by Roman, a drive by Nicholson and a 3-pointer by Leilani McClellan at the 3:52 mark.

New London took its first lead of the game at 18-17. East Haven's Marley Herard registered a 3 to push the Yellowjackets back in front, but Pagan scored with 30 seconds remaining in the quarter on a pass from Roman to send the game into the second quarter tied at 20-20.

In the second quarter, Melendez gave New London the lead on an inbounds pass from Roman — Melendez shot an air ball the first time, but the Whalers got the ball back and ran the same play for two points.

The Whalers led 32-28 at halftime, matching their biggest lead of the game to that point on a 3-pointer by Cora Sawyer with 56 seconds left.

Melendez started the third quarter with a three-point play, Pagan added two points and the Whalers led 37-28 just 38 seconds into the half, prompting a quick timeout by East Haven's Russell.

New London led by as many as 16 in the fourth quarter after a foul line jump shot by Melendez to make it 58-42.

Pendziwater had 17 points for East Haven and Helms and Schlottman had 14 each.

“We've been tested a few times,” said Misto, whose team now plays three straight games in Eastern Connecticut Division I beginning Friday at Ledyard. “This is great for us. I'm looking for a deeper bench, but having X back helped us.”

v.fulkerson@theday.com