Photo by Rudy Marquez
PLYMOUTH — After a pair of tough losses Plymouth’s Lady Pilgrims found renewed vigor in taking a big win over John Glenn by a final of 51-24.
Full court pressure from the Lady Pilgrims out of the opening tip turned up the heat and the pace for the first half with Plymouth forcing six first-quarter turnovers and a hot start by Sydni Weir to a 14-3 lead at the first break.
As good a first quarter as Plymouth had, the second would be all Glenn.
The Lady Falcons made just one turnover in the frame, forced four from Plymouth and rode the hot shooting of sophomore Jessica Yelaska to a two-point deficit at the break.
“We had that second quarter where we struggled making decisions on both ends of the floor,” said Plymouth coach Dave Duncan. “I thought in the third and fourth quarter we were able to get a lead, build a lead and get stops. It’s the first time in a long time we’ve been able to do that.”
“We had the same shots in the first half as we had in the second, they just were falling in the second quarter and in the third they weren’t,” said Glenn coach Ted Hayden. “You have to put the ball in the basket if you’re going to be competitive.”
Plymouth did come out focused for the second half cutting down on empty possessions and defensively stifling any life that Glenn had from the second quarter.
“I thought the press did a good job for us in the beginning and maybe wore them out just a little,” said Duncan. “I thought in the second half we just played good containment defense. We found their shooters, we took care of the penetration then we started playing off Alaina (Clady) a little bit.”
“We missed some assignments in the fourth quarter and we got a little tired,” said Hayden. “Our motivation is seeing the ball go through the basket and that’s what we saw in the second quarter. We picked our defense up and that’s how we got back in the game. We missed shots in the third quarter and we missed defensive assignments. It all goes hand in hand.”
Both teams had offense from a source that they haven’t seen for a while. For the Lady Pilgrims, it was Sydni Weir hitting for 18 points adding four steals and three assists.
“It’s good to see Syd back. She’s been shooting the ball well in practice again so we’re excited about seeing that,” said Duncan. “When that happens it will open things up for our big kids inside and will take some pressure off Claire as well.”
For Glenn, it was Jelaska, a sophomore who played significant minutes earlier in the night in the JV contest, who lit it up for 14 along with three rebounds. Six of those points and a pair of key rebounds came in the second quarter.
“This is only her second game back and that’s a bright spot for us,” said Hayden. “She still has some things to work on and we can build on that. All the girls want to win, we just need to find a way to put the ball in the basket and feel confident in doing it.”
Plymouth is now 7-5 with a key NLC contest at home with NorthWood on Saturday night. Glenn moves to 5-8 and will take on Mishawaka Marian on Friday.
•PLYMOUTH 51, GLENN 24
at Plymouth
Plymouth 14 18 31 51
Glenn 3 16 20 24
Plymouth (51) — Tanner 4 4-4 13, Janus 1 0-0 2, Flynn 2 0-0 4, Sheedy 2 0-0 4, Clady 3 0-0 6, Weir 7 2-3 18, Delp 1 2-2 4. Totals 17 8-9 51
Glenn (24) — Gean 2 0-0 5, R. Romer 1 0-0 2, Miller 0 0-0 0, Wilk 0 0-0 0, Machinic 0 0-0 0, Lang 0 2-2 2, Yelaska 5 3-5 14. Totals 7 5-7 24.
3 Pt. FG — Plymouth 3 (Weir 2), Glenn 2 (Gean, Yelaska).
Rebounds — Plymouth 25 (Clady 8), Glenn 10 (Romer 5).
Steals — Plymouth 10 (Weir 4), Glenn 6 (R. Romer, Wilk 2).
Turnovers — Plymouth 11, Glenn 14.
Fouls (Fouled out) — Plymouth 8, Glenn 8.
