Lady Pilgrims back in the win column
ROCHESTER — It was a defensive struggle but Plymouth’s defense won the battle taking a 44-39 win on the road at Rochester.
A street fight from the beginning Plymouth led most of the way but never opened a lead of more than five points in the game.
“It was a tough one that came down to the end,” said Schalliol. “We took care of the possession game in that fourth quarter.”
Plymouth took a five-point lead into the locker room at halftime but around the three-minute mark of the third quarter, Rochester was able to string together some stops and follow them with scores to take the lead for the first time since the mid-way mark of the first quarter.
The Rochester zone defense kept the Lady Pilgrims on the perimeter and caused problems getting the ball into the hands of Sophie Miller and Rylee Mann in the post.
“Their defense is very strong but we made some crisp passes in that fourth quarter,” said Schalliol. “We let them back in in the third because we weren’t disciplined in our passing game. We needed to be crisp on the offensive end and we were really dialed in in that fourth quarter.”
Tied at the third quarter break, Plymouth came out in the fourth and was able to grab the lead back and extend it back out to five. While the Pilgrims had ten total turnovers on the night they had just one in the final eight minutes while forcing three out of the Zebras.
Rochester had a big night on the boards, especially Ella McCarter who ended the night with 12 but Plymouth won the battle of the boards in the final frame.
“We got the boards when we needed to,” said Schalliol. “We knew that it would come down to possessions so we talked about not giving them offensive rebounds and not turning the ball over. We did a great job in that fourth quarter.
“When a pressure zone is on you you have to make pass fakes out of that and attack the zone in order to make a good pass at a good angle.”
Lena Jones had another great night for Plymouth hitting for 11 points, grabbing five rebounds and adding four assists.
Sophie Miller and Rylee Mann added 10 points to the offense, Mann had six rebounds and Alana Allen added a defensive spark off the bench with three steals a couple of rebounds, and three points.
Plymouth is now 7-8 and will get back into NLC play with a home game against Mishawaka scheduled for an afternoon start of 1:30 p.m.
•PLYMOUTH 44, ROCHESTER 39
At Rochester
Plymouth 11 20 32 44
Rochester 8 15 32 39
PLYMOUTH (44) — Sullivan 1 0-0 2, Jones 4 1-1 11, Gantz 1 3-3 6, Sheedy 1 0-0 2, Mann 4 1-1 10, Allen 1 1-3 4, Olivia Warner 0 0-0 0. Totals 15 8-12 44.
ROCHESTER (39) — Wilson 4 0-0 8, Clevenger 3 0-0 8, Hunter 1 0-0 2, Howdeshell 0 0-0 0, Field 5 1-3 11, Bollinger 1 0-0 2, McCarter 3 0-0 6. Totals 16 1-4 39.
Rebounds — Plymouth 19 (Mann 6), Rochester 22 (McCarter 12).
Assists — Plymouth 7 (Jones 5), Rochester 4 (McCarter 3).
Steals — Plymouth 6 (Allen 3), Rochester 4 (Clevenger 2).
Turnovers — Plymouth 10, Rochester 8.
