PLYMOUTH – Coaches will always find room for improvement in any performance, but Plymouth Lady Pilgrims head coach Dave Duncan will do it with a smile as his team took a big 58-40 win over South Bend Washington to open their season.
The Lady Pilgrims did very little make Duncan frown with a defense that minimized not just Washington’s points, but even their shot opportunities. They turned the ball over just 13 times in their opener and controlled the game from the opening tip.
“There were two areas that we knew we needed to take care of and one of those was taking care of the basketball,” said Duncan after the game. “I thought we did that for the most part. The other one was rebounding and I think we may have had an edge there. I’m proud of our kids for that. We know as a group that we have to work on some things.”
Outsized by the much taller Washington squad didn’t stop Plymouth from out rebounding Washington by a 21-16 margin with six of those Washington boards coming late in the game. The Lady Panthers had just 10 coming into that final frame.
The also got a rather incredible shooting night from senior Halle Reichard who hit seven of 10 from behind the arc. Reichard ended the night leading all scorers with 23.
“Washington is a good team, they got a good start but Halle shot the ball so well tonight,” said Duncan. “We talked last year a lot about the balls that got inside and kick back our were great shots and a lot of the shots she got were those. She was able to get her feet set and had a great night. I thought our kids did a great job getting her (Reichard) open. We have a very unselfish team. Hopefully we keep progressing.”
Plymouth spread it around with seven players getting into the scoring column and 11 players seeing significant playing time in the win.
There was one thing though.
“We foul a lot but our kids are tough,” said Duncan. “I feel like they didn’t back away from anybody today but we’ll work on some of those little things and we’ll make sure we’re better Thursday. I thought our kids hung in there and adjusted to the officiating. “We don’t have that in practice obviously and sometimes you get a little aggressive.”
Plymouth extended their defense to full court early but with a commanding 18-4 lead at the end of the first quarter they were able to sit back in half court defense for much of the game. The Lady Pilgrims forced 17 Washington turnovers.
Plymouth will play their second game of the season Thursday night at home with a 6 p.m. JV start against New Prairie.
•PLYMOUTH 58, SOUTH BEND WASHINGTON 40
at Plymouth
Plymouth 18 11 11 8 – 58
SB Wash. 4 15 6 15 – 40
Plymouth (58) – Claire Tanner 3 1-2 8, Kacee Peters 0 0-0 0, Cassidy Holiday 6 2-2 14, Sydni Weir 1 1-2 4, Halley Reichard 7 2-2 23, Lindsay Janus 0 1-2 1, Mary Kate Flynn 1 0-0 2, CeCe Robinson 0 0-0 0, Alaina Clady 2 2-2 6, Tallulah Gault 0 0-0 0. Totals 20 9-12 58.
Washington (40) – Tamara Smith 0 3-6 3, Oliviana Deluna 0 0-0 0, Mila Reynolds 4 4-4 13, Timberlynn Thomas 6 6-14 22, Treceyona Jennings 1 2-2 4, Tysis Crawford 0 0-0 0, Anyah Porter 0 0-0 0. Totals 11 15-26 40.
3 pt FG – Plymouth 9-17 (Reichard 7), Washington 3-17 (Thomas 2).
Rebounds – Plymouth 23 (Holiday 5), Washington 16 (Thomas 8).
Assists – Plymouth 14 (Tanner 4), Washington 7 (Smith 4).
Steals – Plymouth 6 (Holiday 3), Washington 9 (Thomas 5).
Turnovers – Plymouth 13, Washington 17.
Fouls (Fouled Out) – Plymouth 24 (Robinson), Washington 18 (Smith).
