PLYMOUTH – Greatly outsized, Plymouth’s Lady Pilgrims weren’t outplayed as the entire roster made a big contribution in their third win of the year, a 61-43 victory over Michigan City.

“That was a battle,” said Plymouth head coach Dave Duncan. “We talked about their height, their inside game and they just battle you on the boards. Our little guys got down in there and shoved and pushed around and battled.”

Fighting against the size of 6’4” Hannah Noveroske and 6’1” Janicia Anderson, the Lady Pilgrims put up 5’4” CeCe Robinson and whatever help they could muster.

“Look at CeCe in there,” said Duncan. “She’s got to battle their big people inside and then look at her offensively slipping screens and getting into the middle and hitting jumpers, she was huge today.”

Robinson ended the day with 14 points and four rebounds.

Along with the size Molly Heath gave the Lady Wolves an effective outside threat nailing four of six three point attempts in the first half leading Michigan City to a 24 all tie at half time.

“The Heath girl if you double off of her she’s automatic,” said Duncan. “We practiced during the week that you can’t help off of her, it’s got to be one jab and you’re back on her and our kids would commit to the ball and we lost her and she made us pay for it.”

Running out to a 16-4 lead early the Lady Wolves fought back to tie at half but Plymouth’s adjustments at the break had a big impact.

“I was proud of our kids,” said Duncan. “We jumped out to the big lead, they came back and tied the score and last year we might have folded. This year we’re playing through those stretches. The game of basketball you’re going to have those runs, those ups and downs. We handled it.”

Finding Heath and being able to get both Anderson and Neveroske into foul trouble made a big difference. However Plymouth had some problems as well with Alli Andrews forced to spend a significant amount of time on the bench with foul trouble. Each member of the roster drew praise from the coach.

“I thought that everybody that went in gave us quality minutes,” said Duncan. “Jenna (Nifong) came in and was huge. Cassidy Holiday came in in that second quarter and played very, very well. She’s a talented young lady. Wryanne (Leed) came in and gave us some good minutes. There was a lot of contributions from a lot of different kids.”

And a lot of scoring. Plymouth had four players in double figures with Halle Reichard putting up 12, Robinson’s 14, Andrews with 14 and Kacee Peters hitting several key shots down the stretch adding 12.

Plymouth stays unbeaten at 3-0 and Michigan City moves to 1-2.

Score by Quarters

Plymouth 16  24  42  61

Michigan City 7  24  31  43

Michigan City (43) – Madison Evans 2 4-4 8, Lavanya Pointer 2 0-4 4, Farrah Goodall 0 0-0 0, Janicia Anderson 4 0-4 4, Arcadia Woods 0 0-0 0, Hannah Neveroske 4 4-8 12, Molly Heath 5 0-0 15. Totals 17 13-24 43.

Plymouth (61) – Wryanne Leed 2 0-0 4, Kacee Peters 4 4-5 12, Cortni Cook 1 0-1 3, Halle Reichard 5 0-0 12, Jenna Nifong 0 1-3 1, Alli Andrews 4 3-4 14, CeCe Robinson 6 2-5 14, Cassidy Holiday 0 1-2 1. Totals 22 11-21 61.

3 Pt. FG – Plymouth 6-15 (Andrews 3), Michigan City 5-15 (Heath 5).

Rebounds – Plymouth 22 (Andrews, Reichard, Andrews 4), Michigan City 30 (Anderson 7).

Assists – Plymouth 11 (Cook 4), Michigan City 7 (Evans 3).

Steals – Plymouth 6 (Reichard 2), Michigan City 0.

Turnovers – Plymouth 12, Michigan City 17.