Records fall as Plymouth girls hold off Knox for win
PLYMOUTH — Plymouth’s Lady Pilgrims were keen to get back in the win column on Friday night and did just that with a 50-40 win over Knox to put them in the championship game of the First Source Bank Holiday Classic.
It was the Lady Redskins that struck first and held the lead through the first eight minutes but Mady Sullivan was red hot behind the arc hitting four in a row in the first half on her way to tying the Plymouth single-game record with seven and 21 points.
Joining Sullivan in the record book was Lena Jones who set the Plymouth career record for assists early in the game.
“Our goal all year is to get to 50 points,” said Plymouth coach Micaela Schalliol. “We struggle when we score in the forties, and what got us there was Mady having a great shooting night, and our defense helped build confidence for us on the offensive end. Our defense looked really good in the third quarter we just need to continue that into the fourth.”
Knox made several runs at the Plymouth lead but was never able to cut it back further than four.
“We did a good job of holding our lead,” said Schalliol. “There are a lot of good things to take away, a lot of things to learn from, game situations. With 1:20, we want to keep the ball out on top and not necessarily take any shots to make them pull out defensively and foul us.”
“There is a lot to celebrate, too, with Lena setting the all-time assists record and Mady tying the single game three record. Two great girls in our program who have worked extremely hard, and we want to celebrate them tonight.”
Knox had success when they were able to get the ball to the block with Rose Webb, but the Plymouth defense took away easy touches in the paint. Webb still wound up withg 11 points and four rebounds.
Riley Taylor had eight driving to the basket, but the Plymouth defense limited the touches for Knox three-point specialist Portland Minix who still hit her only real look of the night.
Plymouth opened the door slightly in the fourth, after having just four turnovers in the first three quarters they had eight in the fourth quarter alone.
“You can’t take a quarter off. You can’t take a possession off,” said Schalliol. “Knox could have easily capitalized on that and made a run.”
Plymouth is now 8-5 on the year and will take on New Prairie in a rematch of opening night of this season. Game time is 4:15 p.m. and will be part of the boy/girl doubleheader on MAX 98.3’s game of the week. Knox is now 3-12 and take on Portage (6-7) in the consolation round.
•PLYMOUTH 50, KNOX 40
at Plymouth
Plymouth 6 22 46 50
Knox 9 20 29 40
Plymouth (50) — Sullivan 7 0-0 21, Wray 1 1-2 3, Jones 2 0-0 6, Miller 1 0-0 2, Horton 0 0-0 0, Gantz 5 2-2 12, Ellinger 0 1-2 1, Warner 2 2-2 6, Overmyer 0 0-0 0. Totals 20 6-8 50.
Knox (40) — Nava 2 1-2 5, Messer 0 0-0 0, Jordan 2 0-0 5, Webb 2 7-10 11, Taylor 4 0-0 8, Wolff 2 0-0 4, Minix 1 2-2 5. Totals 14 10-14 40.
3 pt. FG — Plymouth 10 (Sullivan 7), Knox 3 (Nava, Jordan, Minix).
Rebounds — Plymouth 19 (Jones 8), Knox 19 (Jordan 6).
Assists — Plymouth 11 (Jones 4), Knox 4 (Nava, Messer, Webb, Minix).
Steals — Plymouth 10 (Gantz 5), Knox 4 (Webb 2).
Turnovers — Plymouth 12, Knox 16.
