NLC win on the road for Lady Pilgrims
PLYMOUTH — What a difference a day makes.
After a tough road trip to Concord on Thursday night Plymouth’s Lady Pilgrims rebounded Saturday with a key road NLC win over Wawasee 49-44.
“We were definitely locked in for the full 32 minutes,” said Plymouth head coach Micaela Schalliol. “Each quarter I reminded them, eight minutes through, let’s get to the next. At half time, you have to play another half, I truly believe that our girls on the floor were 100 percent locked in on both ends of the basketball and that was a team effort.”
Team indeed.
Seven Lady Pilgrims got to the floor in the game. Six of them scored and five showed up in at least one other stat column.
“Mady (Sullivan) came in off the bench and had seven points she was three for three from the field and that is exactly what we needed her to do,” said Schalliol. “Everyone did their job on both ends of the floor. It was a total team effort, that was a big team win for us.”
Expecting the Warriors offense to be a challenge the Lady Pilgrims clearly spent some time working out a solution on the defensive end. Plymouth kept Wawasee uncomfortable all night long and turned away some prime opportunities in the closing seconds that sealed the win.
“They probably scouted us differently defensively because that was a totally different ball team for us, just for that man pressure,” said Schalliol. “Taking pride in that on-ball defense is exactly what I knew we were capable of doing so it was nice to see them execute.”
Jumping to a lead early the Pilgrims had Wawasee on their heels until late in the second quarter. Using some hot shooting in the final minutes of the first half the Warriors were able to tie it at 22 headed to the locker room.
Wawasee didn’t take a lead in the game until the 5:28 point in the third quarter but Plymouth quickly took it back and then rode another big fourth quarter to the win.
“They are a great ball team. I told our girls to just go out there and play with your hearts and leave everything out on the floor and see how it shakes out,” said Schalliol.
The win has implications in the NLC standings but beyond that headed to the tournament Schalliol hopes the quality win will help build momentum.
“We only have one week left in the regular season so we want to be at our best,” she said. “We have to continue to be consistent. That Concord game wasn’t us. Let’s be the team that we showed we can be tonight rather than early on in January and move on from there.”
The Lady Pilgrims are now 10-9 on the season and have CMA at home on Tuesday.
•PLYMOUTH 45, WAWASEE 38
at Wawasee
Plymouth 13 22 29 45
Wawasee 7 22 28 38
Plymouth (45) — Sullivan 3 0-0 7, Jones 5 1-2 14, Miller 3 1-2 7, Gantz 1 3-6 5, Sheedy 0 0-0 0, Mann 3 0-0 7, Allen 1 3-3 5. Totals 16 8-13 45.
Wawasee (38) — Wilkinson 2 1-2 7, Hackleman 3 0-0 6, Shepherd 2 4-5 9, Coutrure 3 1-1 7, Beer 0 0-0 0, Horn 1 7-8 9. Totals 11 13-16 38.
3 Pt. FG — Plymouth 5 (Jones 3), Wawasee 3 (Wilkinson 2).
Rebounds — Plymouth 23 (Mann 8), Wawasee 13 (Beer 4).
Assists — Plymouth 4 (Jones 3), Wawasee 2 (Hackleman, Beer).
Steals — Plymouth 10 (Gantz 5), Wawasee 6 (Shepherd 3).
Turnovers — Plymouth 10, Wawasee 9.
