PERU – It was opening night and there are rave reviews for the defense as the Plymouth Lady Pilgrims hit the road and picked up a win over Peru 61-32.

Always a point of emphasis for the Lady Pilgrims, coach Dave Duncan’s team showed that in spite of opening game rust, defense will be a staple of the Plymouth season. The hawking Plymouth ball pressured forced turnovers early and often from the Peru offense.

“I thought our intensity level was extremely high,” said Duncan of his team’s opening night effort on defense. “Maybe we fouled a little bit too much but I’m really happy with our efforts and the way our kids got to spots.”

Plymouth forced a total of 30 turnovers in the game and had 23 steals as a team. Kaydon Fosler had five of those and led the Lady Pilgrims in scoring with 13 points – all off of Peru turnovers.

“We’ve been working a little bit on ‘run and jump’ a couple of times Allie (Wright) brought them right to her and (Fosler) jumped it,” said Duncan. “With her athleticism and her length she is very difficult to pass around.”

Haley Harrell and Allie Wright also had five steals for the Lady Pilgrims as the senior guards looked in mid season form for a game one.

“I think it all started with Allie’s ball pressure,” said Duncan. “She made their guards do things they didn’t want to do and our guards were able to get up the line and put a little more pressure on passers”

Early on Peru was able to keep pace with a solid night on the offensive boards but after half time even that dried up for the Lady Tigers.

“We talked about rebounding at halftime and our commitment to blocking out,” said Duncan. “I thought we did a lot better job in the second half in finding people.”

Score by Quarters

Plymouth 15  29  50  61

Peru  7 13  22  32

Plymouth (61) – Kaylee Haynes 0 0-0 0, Ashley Harrell 0 0-0 0, Hunter Stevens 3 5-6 11, Alli Andrews 2 0-0 7, Kaydon Fosler 6 1-2 13, Haley Harrell 4 0-0 11, Allie Wright 0 0-0 0 0, Anna Bockman 0 0-0 0, Kara Morwood 3 0-0 8, Shannon Stephenson 0 0-0 0, Lanae Singleton 1 1-1 3, Nicole Horvath 2 4-5 8, Totals 15 9-13 61.

Peru (32)- Merideth Richards 0 0-1 0, Jesie Murphy 0 6-8 6, Allie Gardner 0 0-0 0, Kelsie West 4 0-0 8, Stacey Fuller 0 1-2 1, Anna Weeks 1 4-5 6, Shirley Morens 4 0-0 8, Molly Prys 0 0-0 0, Ashlyn Shank 0 -0 0, Candice Parks 1 1-1 3. Totals 9 12-17 32.

3Pt. FG – Plymouth 7-19 (Harell 3), Peru 0-10.

Rebounds – Plymouth 24 (Horvath 6), Peru 24 (Morens 8).

Assists – Plymouth 13 (Wright 3), Peru 4 (Murphy 2).

Steals – Ploymouth 23 (Fosler, Wright, Harrell 5) Peru 6 (Weeks 2).

Fouls (Fouled Out) – Plymouth 22, Peru 13.