LaPORTE – While maybe not happy with the outcome, Plymouth coach Dave Duncan was happy with his team after a loss on the road Tuesday at LaPorte by a 59-51 fina.l.

“This was probably the most aggressive we’ve been in the past three weeks,” he said after the game. “We told the kids in the locker room we have something to build off of now.”

The Lady Pilgrims had lacked spark on Saturday after the Christmas layoff in falling on the road at Elkhart Memorial, but found that spark again on both ends of the floor, with a nmber of outstanding performances.

Hunter Stevens took the reigns of the offense and put in a double/double of 32 points with 11 rebounds to jump start a Plymouth offense that has struggled to knock down shots at times. Outstanding sophomore Nicole Horvath went down early to a leg injury giving way to Shannon Stephenson stepping in for the lion’s share of minutes in the post and made each of them quality.

Perhaps unheralded in the statistics columns, Allie Wright once again shut down one of the state’s best guards in Nicole Konieczny holding her to just three first half points and limited touches in the game.

“Shannon went in there and started throwing her body around, she was important in there. Thats what you need when one kid goes down the next one is up and she was,” said Duncan. “Allie was outstanding just that she knows that we don’t want their best player to have the basketball and that’s her mentality.”

The bottom line would be a fundamental as old as basketball itself – free throws – LaPort’s ability to get to the line and hit them.

“They hit a lot of free throws and they got to the line a lot,” said Duncan “That was probably the difference in the game.”

On the night the Lady Slicers were 29-32 from the line and particularly outstanding was Kyleigh Kubik’s 19-19 on her way to a 26 point night.

Outsized Plymouth was able to hold their own on the boards – 24 rebounds to LaPorte’s 22 – in a physical game but couldn’t overcome the LaPorte dominance at the free throw line.

“We challenged the kids to be more aggressive on the boards and I thought we did that,” said Duncan. “I’m proud of the effort that everybody gave – the intensity level – that’s where we want to be come tourney time.

“We’re a team and that’s what we talked about at the end. It was a great team effort. It wasn’t one or two kids. Everybody that was on the floor gave everything they had in this game.”

The Lady Pilgrims move to 9-5 on the year with a game at home Thursday against New Prairie. LaPorte is 12-4.

Score by Quarters

LaPorte 16 29 40 59

Plymouth 13 21 35 51

LaPorte (59) – Konieczny 3 6-8 12, Kubik 3 19-19 26, A. Vaughn 3 2-4 8, S. Vaughn 1 0-0 3, Colburn 1 2-2 4, Ulmer 3 0-0 6. Totals 14 29-33 59.

Plymouth (51) – Stevens 13 5-8 32 Andrews 2 0-0 4, Fosler 1 1-1 3, Harrell 3 0-0 8, Wright 1 -0 2, Morwood 0 0-0 0, Stephenson 1 0-0 2, Horvath 0 0-0 0. Totals 21 6-9 51.

3 Pt. FG – LaPorte 2-9 (Kubik, S. Vaughn), Plymouth 3-14 (Harrell 2).

Rebounds – LaPorte 22 (A. Vaughn 5), Plymouth 24 (Stevens 11).

Assists – LaPorte 8 (Konieczny 4), Plymouth Plymouth 7 (Fosler 3).

Steals – LaPorte 7 (Konieczny 3), Plymouth 3 (Stevens, Andrews, Harrell).

Turnovers – LaPorte 7, Plymouth 11.

Fouls (Fouled Out) – LaPorte 15, Plymouth 25 (Wright).