BOURBON – There was not much high light reel material on Monday night as Plymouth outlasted Triton for a non-conference road win 40-33.
In the end, the team that overcame their errors the best took the win but it wasn’t by much. Both squads had over 20 turnovers on the night (Plymouth 27, Triton 24) and the empty possessions proved to be the undoing of a scrappy Triton team.
“It doesn’t matter if you think one of these teams is 20 points better than the other it’s always a dog fight when you play over here (at Triton),” said Plymouth head coach Dave Duncan. “They are always ready to play, they played hard and did some good things and they were the aggressor most of the night.”
Despite the mounting turnover numbers, the Lady Trojans found a way to stay within striking distance up to the end.
“We can’t give up that many turnovers,” said Triton coach Adam Heckaman. “That’s just extra opportunities for the other team to score. Even if you don’t shoot the ball well you are probably going to make some of those which is the difference in the game.”
“We have to take care of the ball,” he said. “That’s something that we have to get better at.”
The sloppy play was uncharacteristic of the Lady Pilgrims as well.
“We had such a great week of practice and we felt like we’d be able to carry some things in from practice and we didn’t do that,” said Plymouth coach Dave Duncan. “Tallulah (Gault) really got us off to a great start, she shot the ball well. For some reason, we quit looking for her. When you have a kid that hot you try to find her about every other time down the floor and for some reason we didn’t.”
As both teams struggled to handle the ball and take the lid off the basket in the first quarter, Gault got the offense flowing in quarter number two for Plymouth by burying four three-point shots in the frame but hit just one more basket on the night, a third-quarter put-back bucket.
Down by just six at the third quarter break, Triton cut that lead to just four at around the halfway point of the fourth quarter but couldn’t cut in any further.
“I think we were at 31-27 late in the fourth and we turn it over and they come down and score and we fouled them,” said Heckaman. “We didn’t get the rebound off the free throw again and they scored. Because of one turnover that’s a five-point swing. It turned from a four-point game to a nine-point game and when you are struggling to score that’s the difference.”
“We just found a way to win,” said Duncan. “We picked up our defensive pressure a little bit in the second half and turned them over a little and capitalized on some things down the stretch.”
“We never did find a way to extend that lead in the fourth quarter,” said Duncan. “We obviously have a lot of things to work on and we sure miss Lindsay (Janus) on the floor, she does a lot of good things for us. I think Kaylee (Dragani) did a great job but Lindsay’s experience probably would have shown down the stretch.”
Dragani ended the night with a couple of key buckets in the fourth quarter to help the cause along with some hot shooting from the free-throw line from Taylor Delp. Clare Sheedy came up big with five of her six rebounds in the final eight minutes.
Triton’s Taren Yates had a big night with 16 points and seven steals, and freshman Addy Viers had five and pulled down 10 rebounds in an outstanding performance.
“She’s doing well,” said Heckaman of his freshman post player. “She’s come a long way. She looks to score and is physical which is what we need out of her.”
“It all comes down to the same thing,” said Heckaman “If you can’t handle the ball well enough to get it down there it doesn’t make a whole lot of difference. Decision making and things like that are things that we are going to have to work on over the break.”
Plymouth moves to 4-5 on the year and will have a game at home with Valparaiso on Wednesday night. Triton is now 4-6 and will have their next game on Jan. 4 at South Central.
*PLYMOUTH 40, TRITON 33
at Triton
Plymouth 2 18 26 40
Triton 3 12 20 33
Plymouth (40) – Cook 1 1-3 5, Delp 2 5-5 9, Mann 1 0-0 2, Dragani 2 0-0 5, Gault 5 0-0 14, Dejarnatt 1 0-0 2, Sheedy 2 1-3 5. Totals 14 7-11 40.
Triton (33) – Yates 6 2-2 16, Groves 0 0-0 0, Atkins 0 0-0 0, Bules 1 0-0 2, Ab. Viers 1 1-4 3, Hostrawser 3 1-3 7, Ad. Viers 2 1-4 5. Totals 13 5-13 33.
3 Pt. FG – Triton 2 (Yates 2), Plymouth
Rebounds – Triton 26 (Ad. Viers 10), Plymouth 22 (Delp, Sheedy 6).
Assists – Triton 8 (Atkins 3), Plymouth 12 (Delp, Dragani, Sheedy 3)
Steals – Triton 18 (Yates 7), Plymouth 11 (Cook 4).
Turnovers – Triton 24, Plymouth 27.
Fouls (Fouled out) – Triton 12, Plymouth 12.
