PLYMOUTH – Plymouth’s Lady Pilgrims returned home on Tuesday night and could not overcome the furious onslaught of South Bend Washington’s Lady Panthers falling by a final of 64-48.

Leading much of the first half and staying within striking distance for 32 minutes Plymouth could not answer the full court pressure of the Lady Panthers and the athletic talent of Tiara Murphy as Washington was able to extend their lead over the final four minutes. The defense forced 26 Plymouth turnovers and Murphy ended the night with 24 points and six steals.

“We talked about it after they game,” said Plymouth coach Dave Duncan. “They (Washington) helped us. They made us better. They gave us a purpose to go to practice and get better right now. And we will. We’ll work on that pressure.”

“The pressure doesn’t go away. You saw the rewards of getting it past that pressure so those are things that we have to continue to work on in practice.”

The rewards of getting the ball into the half court led to a big game from sophomore post Nicole Horvath, who ended the night with 19 points. Horvath was more than a match for Washington’s post defense and when the Lady Pilgrims could exploit that match up it paid great dividends.

“We talked about it at halftime – getting the ball past the front end of that press and Nicole (Horvath) can finish,” said Duncan. “First half we did a pretty good job of that – the second half – I don’t know.”

“Murphy is a fantastic player. Purdue is going to get a good one there. We had a hard time defending their spin dribble. We need to work on help on that spin and help away from the guard and we will do that.”

The first half Plymouth success was due in great part to making Washington play the Lady Pilgrim game in the half court and great patience and ball movement on offense.

“The bad turnovers were when we were trying to make that long cross court pass,” said Duncan. “That usually resulted in a lay up at the other end. We want to make shorter passes and there again is another reason to get back to practice and get better.”

Plymouth is now 5-1 with Warsaw coming up on the road Saturday. Washington moves to 8-1 on the year.

 

Score by Quarters

Plymouth 17 27 38 48

SB Wash. 16 31 43 64

Plymouth (48) – Andrews 3 2-2 9, Fosler 1 3-5 6, Harrell 3 0-1 8, Wright 1 0-0 2, Stephenson 2 0-0 4, Horath 8 3-5 19, Morwood 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 8-13 48.

Washington (64) – Watkins 2 0-0 4, Green 3 0-0 6, Murphy 11 1-1 24, Coleman 5 1-3 12, Phillips 1 1-2 3, Douglas 2 0-0 5, Shaffer 5 0-0 10, Wesley 0 0-0 0,. Totals 29 3-6 64.

3 Pt. FG – Washington 3-13 (Murphy, Coleman, Douglas), Plymouth 4-8 (Harrell 2).

Rebounds – Washington 22 (Coleman 6), Plymouth 19 (Horvath 6).

Assists – Washington 6 (Watkins, Murphy 2), Plymouth 5 (Wright 3).

Steals – Washington 13 (Murphy 6), Plymouth 5 (Harrell, Wright 2).

Turonvers – Washington 10, Plymouth 26.

Fouls (Fouled out) – Washington 17 (Shaffer), Plymouth 10 (Wright).