It was air tight pressure early and often that led to Plymouth’s big win over Triton in girls basketball by a 50-21 final.
Plymouth came out in a pressure full court defense that led to seven first quarter turnovers that were essentially the difference in the game. The Lady Pilgrims pressure led to a 13-1 lead at the quarter break.
“I thought our intensity from time to time made them do things that they didn’t want to do on the floor,” said Plymouth coach Dave Duncan. “We mixed our defenses up a little bit more and got out and pressed a little bit more than we have. They are a team that’s going to be fine at tourney time. They are trying to figure our who they are right now and there were stretches where they played really well and where we were a little bit better.”
Triton came out determined to take away Halle Reichert and found that Claire Tanner was equal to the task.
They came our in a box on Halle and I think Claire had a great start,” said Duncan. “We put in a new offense for Halle to run the baseline against the three-two and our post kids got a lot of looks it was very efficient for us.”
For Triton is was a game of trying to fight experience with youth.
“We keep making young mistakes,” said Triton coach Adam Heckaman. “I know we’re young and we make a lot of young mistakes and the girls get a little frustrated but we just got to keep trying to piece everything together to make a whole game.
“I was pretty happy with that first half at 14,” he said. “It was a couple mental mistakes and then we come out in the second half and three turnovers put that up to 20 so we have to try to get through it. We aren’t a high percentage shooting team yet and when you get down like that it makes it even more difficult.”
The Lady Pilgrims rode that lead for the rest of the game allowing lots of time from the bench in securing the win.
“I’m excited about our bench this year,” said Duncan. “When we bring kids off the bench we don’t lose a whole lot.”
A consideration for Plymouth as they come back home tomorrow to take on Valparaiso.
“In the summer we play four games in a day,” said Duncan. “Our kids love that competition I don’t think that’s going to be a problem.”
“We’re going to give or best effort and learn from these games,” said Heckaman. “In the long run they make us better. We are seeing some of our mistakes and we learn from them. In the long run we’re learning from our mistakes.”
•PLYMOUTH 50, TRITON 21
at Triton
Plymouth 13 24 39 50
Triton 1 8 10 21
PLYMOUTH (50) – Tanner 5 1-2 13, Holiday 4 0-0 8, Peters 0 0-0 0, Reichard 6 0-0 20, Robinson 3 0-0 6, Clady 1 4-4 6. Totals 19 5-6 50
TRITON (21) – Faulkner 1 0-0 2, Groves 2 0-0 6, Miller 3 1-2 8, Hostrawser 0 1-2 1, A. Viers 2 0-0 4. Totals 7 2-4 21
3 Pt. FG – Plymouth 7 (Reichard 5), Triton 3 (Groves 2).
Rebounds – Plymouth 22 ( Clady 5), Triton 13 (Hostrawser 4).
Assists – Plymouth 9 (Peters 3), Triton 2 (Faulkner, Miller)
Steals – Plymouth 6 (Peters 3), Triton 10 (Miller 5).
Turnovers – Plymouth 12, Triton 12.
Fouls (Fouled out) – Plymouth 11 (Holiday), Triton 5.
