PLYMOUTH – It was a rough night at the office for Plymouth’s Lady Pilgrims as a veteran Warsaw team completely controlled a 54-22 win.
“I’m at a loss for words for what just happened,” said Plymouth head coach Micaela Schalliol.
The Tigers pretty much had their way from the tip to the buzzer with a stifling full-court pressure that kept Plymouth from establishing any sort of rhythm and struggling to even get the ball up the floor forcing 10 turnovers in the first quarter and 25 in the game and running out to a 16-4 first-quarter lead.
Taylor Delp was literally the only offense for Plymouth in the first half netting seven points before Madie Mann was able to hit a three-pointer late in the second quarter. Sophie Miller would add a pair of free throws to account for the Plymouth scoring in the first half.
The Warsaw press took away anything the Pilgrims wanted to do.
“We expected it and we prepared against it,” said Schalliol. “Honestly it seems like whenever a team wants to step on the floor and compete with us we seem to back down. It’s upsetting to see. It happened against Marian, it happened against Valpo and it happened again tonight. It’s upsetting to see.”
While Plymouth’s offense struggled for every point the defense was broken down by a very patient Tiger offense.
Against Plymouth’s 1-3-1 the Tigers patiently spread to the perimeter and attack with sharp passing to wait for a perfect shot.
Warsaw’s Ava Egolff had a huge night with 12 points and eight rebounds to lead the Tigers in that category. Zoe Bergan was everywhere on defense accounting for six steals. Point guard Bailee Stevens had five steals a Kacilyn Krebs 16 points.
The Tigers held Taylor Delp below her double/double average with nine points and eight rebounds.
Warsaw had success by forcing the ball to freshman point guard Lena Jones and running multiple defenders at her all night.
“This will have to be a learning game for Lena,” said Schalliol. “They were forcing her left and she didn’t want to go left so in practice we’re going to have to work on going left.”
Plymouth will move to 7-3 on the year and 1-1 in the NLC with a very tough Glenn team at home on Tuesday. Warsaw is 8-4 and 2-0.
•WARSAW 54, PLYMOUTH 22
at Plymouth
Plymouth 4 12 17 22
Warsaw 16 35 47 54
Plymouth (22) – Himes 0 2-2 2, Hunter 0 1-2 1, Jones 0 0-0 0, Delp 2 5-9 9, Mann 2 0-0 5, Jones 0 1-2 1, Dragani 0 0-0 0, Miller 1 2-2 4, Sheedy 0 2-2 2. Totals 5 11-17 22.
Warsaw (54) — Peterson 1 0-0 3, Bergan 2 2-3 6, Stephens 2 0-1 4, Egolff 4 4-4 12, Winchester 2 0-0 5, Knepp 1 0-0 3, Sanner 1 3-3 5, Nichols 1 0-0 2, Krebs 6 1-2 16. Totals 20 10-13 54.
3 pt FG — Plymouth 1 (Mann), Warsaw 6 (Krebs 3).
Rebounds — Plymouth 18 (Delp 8), Warsaw 20 (Egolf 8).
Assists — Plymouth 2 (Delp, Dragani), Warsaw 5 (Stephens 3).
Steals — Plymouth 5 (Mann 3), Warsaw 18 (Bergan 6).
Turnovers — Plymouth 25, Warsaw 14.