PLYMOUTH – Far from early season jitters Plymouth’s Lady Pilgrims are looking like a well oiled machine leading from start to finish in a 51-23 win over New Prairie at home.
For the second night this week the Lady Pilgrims spread the wealth with Claire Tanner leading the team in scoring with 12, but Kacee Peters with nine and Cassidy Holiday and Alaina Clady with eight each.
Plymouth coach Dave Duncan went to his bench early and often and the result was every player that saw the floor making a contribution to the win.
“I thought we had a solid game. All our kids that went in the game played hard. That’s what you want to see as a coach is your kids playing hard and we will get even better because of it,” said Duncan. “I thought defensively we played hard especially in that second half. We got up and put pressure on the ball and made them very uncomfortable.”
The Lady Pilgrims made New Prairie uncomfortbable from the start forcing them into five first quarter turnovers that resulted in a commanding 15-6 lead at the quarters end. By the end of the night Plymouth had forced 16 turnovers.
“I think we are getting to the point that we were even able to capitilize on turnovers,” said Duncan. “We got some on Tuesday too against Washington but we didn’t capitalize on them tonight we capitalized on them.”
Rebounding has been a point of emphasis as well with the Lady Pilgrims winning that battle handily with 30 to just 20 for New Prairie.
“Our kids did a really good job attacking the glass,” said Duncan. “I’m always watching defensively every rotation. When we give a backside rotation or we miss a rotation I always feel we can be a little better. I understand this is just the second game and we are going to get there.”
Duncan early on felt his inside game would develop nicely to help his shooters on the perimeter and that plan began to come to fruition with New Prairie taking great pains to minimize Halle Reichard’s offensive touches. Cassidy Holiday came alive with a big game adding seven rebounds and four steals to her eight points. CeCe Robinson had four boards to go with her four points and Alaina Clady was a force posting up her defender on the block.
“I thought especially in the second half we exploited the inside game,” said Duncan. “I thought Alaina, Cass and CeCe were really strong inside. We have to have that combination of an inside out game.”
“They were guarding Halle really really heavy so they gave us a little education in the things we have to do to get her some shots,” said Duncan. “We are going to go back to the gym and figure out a way to get her some shots.”
And while they do that they will be able to enjoy a 2-0 start to the season. The Lady Pilgrims will be in action again on Election Night with a game with a tough Mishwaka Marian team and will take on Michigan City next Saturday afternoon.
*PLYMOUTH 51, NEW PRAIRIE 23
at Plymouth
Plymouth 15 29 40 51
NP 6 18 20 23
Plymouth (51) – Tanner 3 4-4 12, Holiday 4 0-0 8, Peters 4 1-2 9, Reichard 1 2-2 5, Janus 0 0-0 0, Flynn 1 1-2 3, Robinson 2 0-0 4, Clady 3 2-4 8, Weir 1 0-2 2, Sheedy 0 0-0 0. Totals 19 10-16 51
New Prairie (23) – Pavlik 0 0-0 0, Lapczynsky 2 0-0 5, McSorley 2 0-0 5, Nelson 0 0-1 0, Winters 4 0-0 11, Meyers 1 0-0 2, Strauch 0 0-0 0. Totals 9 0-1 23.
3 Pt. FG – Plymouth 3 (Tanner 2), New Prairie 5 (Winters 3).
Rebounds – Plymouth 30 (Cassidy 7), New Prairie 20 McSorley 6.
Assists – Plymouth 4 (Flynn 2), New Prairie 1 (Strauch).
Steals – Plymouth 12 (Holiday, Peters 4), New Prairie 6 (Lapczynsky 3).
Turnovers – Plymouth 11, New Prairie 16.
Fouls (Fouled out) – Plymouth 10, New Prairie 19 (Meyers).
