2 days Ago By By Doug Griffiths Sports Writer
PLYMOUTH - Plymouth dug itself a sizable hole due to a poor second quarter against visiting Portage on Saturday and that led to a 42-39 loss in the inaugural 1st Source Bank Holiday Tournament for girls basketball at The Rock. The Indians’ trapping defense gave the Pilgrims fits in that decisive quarter, which helped lead to 13 first-half turnovers. As a result, Plymouth was outscored 17-7 in the second stanza and trailed 28-18 at intermission.
Although the hosts got to within two points in the second half, Plymouth could never fully recover from that double-digit deficit. Credit Portage's quickness, length and size for causing the Pilgrims some issues. After knocking down 11 3-pointers in the tourney's opening round against Knox, Plymouth really struggled from the perimeter, knocking down just four long-range shots against the Indians, including just one in the second half.
"We were very passive against their pressure," Plymouth head coach Micaela Schalliol said. "The middle was wide open, but we were scared to attack those gaps or flash into those gaps. Teams are going to continue to throw the zone at us until we prove that we can dominate against a zone.
We responded well defensively in the second half, limiting them to 14 (points), but being down 10 at halftime is tough to come back from." Schalliol's team fell to 8-6, while the victory improved the Indians' record to 8-7. Needless to say, Portage head coach Jovanny Gonzalez was elated with the way his team performed, especially on the defensive end.
"We tried to mix our defenses up between our two presses and our 1-2-2 gave them some problems," the Indians' coach said. "They kind of figured it out in the second half so we went to our zone. They're such good 3-point shooters, we couldn't leave them.
We tried to contest as many 3s as we could." Gonzalez's team really got a lift off the bench from sophomore post player Courtney Clark. To say the least her 6-foot-1 frame was a handful for the Pilgrims.
Clark finished with 11 points, pulled down a number of rebounds and had eight free-throw attempts. "When we can play inside, outside, we're obviously better," Gonzalez said. "It makes things easier for our guards.
Courtney is really coming along. She just started playing in eighth grade. Obviously she has the size, but she's learning how to use her body and getting better finishing around the rim.
" In addition to Clark, Portage junior point guard Peyton Wilson was big too. She tied Clark for game-high honors with 11 points. Clark and Wilson were named to the All-Tournament Team as was Plymouth senior guard Lena Jones, who finished with eight points after setting the Plymouth High School assists all-time record the night before.
The Pilgrims narrowed the deficit to 38-35 late in the fourth quarter when Indian sophomore guard Kelis Scott hit the biggest shot of the game, a wide open 3-pointer to make it a two possession game with 1:13 to play. It was just her second made bucket of the contest and first since the first quarter. "That was a 'No, No, No, 3,'" Gonzalez admitted.
"That was a huge shot. The coach needs to stop saying, 'No, No, No.'" Needless to say, Schalliol was not pleased with her team's defense on Scott's late triple.
"That's just understanding the game," Schalliol explained. "You can't sit back inside the 3-point line and play casual defense when you're down. That was a big-time shot for them.
" Plymouth's Chloe Horton's two free throws with 22.9 seconds to go made it a 41-39 game. After Portage turned the ball over, the Pilgrims had a chance to tie it, but Mady Sullivan's off-balance shot driving to the bucket missed as it banked off the rim.
Portage grabbed the rebound and was fouled with 1.3 seconds left. Horton led the Pilgrims in scoring with 10 points.
Plymouth will enjoy some time off now from game action as it doesn't play again until Jan. 8 when it hosts Rochester at 6 p.m.
• PORTAGE 42, PLYMOUTH 39 At Plymouth PORTAGE: Peyton Wilson 3 4-6 11, Courtney Clark 4 3-8 11, Kylie Byrd 2 2-4 7, Kelis Scott 2 0-0 6, Olivia Gonzalez 2 0-0 5, Sarie Bond 1 0-0 2, Kamryn Lockett 0 0-0 0, Mariah Collins 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 14 9-18 42 PLYMOUTH: Chloe Horton 3 3-3 11, Lena Jones 3 1-2 8, Sophie Miller 2 3-5 7, Mady Sullivan 2 0-0 6, Tynley Gantz 2 0-0 4, Lydia Wray 1 0-0 2, Lily Runyan 1 0-0 2, Olivia Warner 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 14 7-10 39 Score by quarters Portage 11 28 34 42 Plymouth 11 18 32 39 3-pointers: Portage 5 (Scott 2, Wilson, Byrd, Gonzalez).
Plymouth 4 (Sullivan 2, Jones, Horton). Fouls (fouled out): Portage 14 (none), Plymouth 17 (none). Records: Portage 8-7, Plymouth 8-6.
