Tiger Girls Lose Sloppy Game
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
PLYMOUTH - During a recent eight-game win streak, the Chicago Bears did just enough offensively when they needed to pull out a victory.
The same could be said for Plymouth High School's varsity girls basketball team, who slipped past Northern Lakes Conference rival Warsaw 30-29 Saturday.
The game was the NLC opener for both teams, and both clubs turned in sub-par performances, to say the least.
"We have players who have not stepped up and we have players who are not shooting the ball well," said second-year Warsaw coach John Snyder, whose team fell to 5-3 overall and 0-1 in the NLC. "It's costing us games, and we've got to find a way to stop it."
In a game that was downright sloppy, as the two teams combined for 32 turnovers to just nine assists as well as combining to hit just 19 of 52 shots from the field, Warsaw tied a school record for fewest field goals in a game and the Tigers turned in their lowest point total in nearly a quarter century.
The Tigers' seven made field goals tied a school record for the fewest field goals made in a game. Warsaw was last held to just seven field goals in the 1981-82 season against Tippecanoe Valley. In that same game, Warsaw scored just 23 points.
After Saturday's game, which was played in the auxiliary gym at Plymouth High School while a wrestling tournament was contested in the main gym, Snyder was asked if Plymouth's defense took Warsaw out of its game, or if the Tigers simply couldn't execute.
It was both.
And somehow as bad as things were, the Tigers had a chance to win the game in closing seconds.
With the score knotted at 29, Warsaw tried to inbound the ball. When senior Amy Abbitt couldn't get the ball in play, she called a timeout. When the Tigers tried to inbound the ball after the timeout, Leslie Swihart came up with one of her six steals in the game.
She drove down the court and was fouled.
While this was happening, the game clock was never started and Swihart went to the free throw line with 8.8 seconds remaining.
She made the first free throw attempt and missed the second.
Warsaw rebounded the missed charity toss and Butler-bound senior Julie Seiss raced down the court and drove the lane to try and score the game-winning basket.
Instead of being the hero, Seiss was called for an offensive foul, and the Pilgrims escaped with the one-point win.
"This is a difficult loss," said Sndyer. "We know we can play so much better. Plymouth always has a good defensive team, but that doesn't explain why we had 17 turnovers."
The Tigers finished the game 7 of 25 (28 percent) from the field, including a 2-of-7 performace from three-point range.
The thing that kept Warsaw in the game was its 13-of-19 effort at the free throw line.
Plymouth, who hit 4 of 9 free throws in the win, hit 12 of 27 field goals overall and were 2 of 6 from three-point range.
The Pilgrims turned the ball over 15 times.
Plymouth led 8-4 after the first quarter and 18-17 at halftime.
The Tigers were up 17-14 in the closing seconds of the second quarter, but Swihart came up with a game-changing play to end the first half as well.
Swihart was fouled with 4.2 seconds remaining while shooting a three-pointer. She got the shot to fall, and then also converted the free throw attempt.
"We're not doing what we do in practice," said Snyder. "They're not doing what we're teaching them in practice. Our execution has to improve."
Until last season, Plymouth hadn't beat Warsaw since 1982. The Pilgrims have now won two of the last three meetings.
The Tigers are 30-4 in the all-time series against Plymouth.
Seiss led Warsaw with 11 points, while senior Jennifer Scherer scored five points and classmate Kim Clay scored four points.
Elaine Hessel paced Plymouth with 11 points and eight rebounds, while Swihart finished with eight points and six steals.
The Pilgrims improved to 7-2 overall and 1-0 in the NLC.
Warsaw is in action again Tuesday at Columbia City (7-1).
PLYMOUTH 30, WARSAW 29
Warsaw 8 10 6 6 - 29
Plymouth 4 13 4 8 - 30
Warsaw FG FT R S Pts.
* DeGeeter 1-8 0-0 4 3 3
* Abbitt 0-3 1-1 0 0 1
* Seiss 3-6 4-6 2 0 11
* Scherer 0-1 5-8 3 0 5
* Smith 1-4 0-0 2 3 2
Denlinger 0-1 1-2 6 0 1
Clay 1-1 2-2 0 0 4
Snider 1-1 0-0 0 0 2
Wood 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Team 0-0 0-0 4 0 0
Totals 7-25 13-19 21 6 29
Plymouth FG FT R S Pts.
* Galt 1-1 0-2 0 0 2
* Hessel 5-9 1-2 8 0 11
* L. Swihart 2-5 3-5 1 6 8
* Keiser 2-4 0-0 1 1 4
* Payne 0-3 0-0 0 1 0
Edison 1-1 0-0 0 0 2
Barron 0-1 0-0 2 2 0
A. Swihart 0-0 0-0 3 0 0
Boyle 1-3 0-0 0 1 3
Team 0-0 0-0 2 0 0
Totals 12-27 4-9 17 11 30
Three-point goals - Plymouth 2-6 (Boyle 1-3, L. Swihart 1-2, Payne 0-1), Warsaw 2-7 (DeGeeter 1-4, Seiss 1-2, Abbitt 0-1). Turnovers - Plymouth 15, Warsaw 17. Fouls - Plymouth 20, Warsaw 15. Fouled out - Seiss. [[In-content Ad]]
PLYMOUTH - During a recent eight-game win streak, the Chicago Bears did just enough offensively when they needed to pull out a victory.
The same could be said for Plymouth High School's varsity girls basketball team, who slipped past Northern Lakes Conference rival Warsaw 30-29 Saturday.
The game was the NLC opener for both teams, and both clubs turned in sub-par performances, to say the least.
"We have players who have not stepped up and we have players who are not shooting the ball well," said second-year Warsaw coach John Snyder, whose team fell to 5-3 overall and 0-1 in the NLC. "It's costing us games, and we've got to find a way to stop it."
In a game that was downright sloppy, as the two teams combined for 32 turnovers to just nine assists as well as combining to hit just 19 of 52 shots from the field, Warsaw tied a school record for fewest field goals in a game and the Tigers turned in their lowest point total in nearly a quarter century.
The Tigers' seven made field goals tied a school record for the fewest field goals made in a game. Warsaw was last held to just seven field goals in the 1981-82 season against Tippecanoe Valley. In that same game, Warsaw scored just 23 points.
After Saturday's game, which was played in the auxiliary gym at Plymouth High School while a wrestling tournament was contested in the main gym, Snyder was asked if Plymouth's defense took Warsaw out of its game, or if the Tigers simply couldn't execute.
It was both.
And somehow as bad as things were, the Tigers had a chance to win the game in closing seconds.
With the score knotted at 29, Warsaw tried to inbound the ball. When senior Amy Abbitt couldn't get the ball in play, she called a timeout. When the Tigers tried to inbound the ball after the timeout, Leslie Swihart came up with one of her six steals in the game.
She drove down the court and was fouled.
While this was happening, the game clock was never started and Swihart went to the free throw line with 8.8 seconds remaining.
She made the first free throw attempt and missed the second.
Warsaw rebounded the missed charity toss and Butler-bound senior Julie Seiss raced down the court and drove the lane to try and score the game-winning basket.
Instead of being the hero, Seiss was called for an offensive foul, and the Pilgrims escaped with the one-point win.
"This is a difficult loss," said Sndyer. "We know we can play so much better. Plymouth always has a good defensive team, but that doesn't explain why we had 17 turnovers."
The Tigers finished the game 7 of 25 (28 percent) from the field, including a 2-of-7 performace from three-point range.
The thing that kept Warsaw in the game was its 13-of-19 effort at the free throw line.
Plymouth, who hit 4 of 9 free throws in the win, hit 12 of 27 field goals overall and were 2 of 6 from three-point range.
The Pilgrims turned the ball over 15 times.
Plymouth led 8-4 after the first quarter and 18-17 at halftime.
The Tigers were up 17-14 in the closing seconds of the second quarter, but Swihart came up with a game-changing play to end the first half as well.
Swihart was fouled with 4.2 seconds remaining while shooting a three-pointer. She got the shot to fall, and then also converted the free throw attempt.
"We're not doing what we do in practice," said Snyder. "They're not doing what we're teaching them in practice. Our execution has to improve."
Until last season, Plymouth hadn't beat Warsaw since 1982. The Pilgrims have now won two of the last three meetings.
The Tigers are 30-4 in the all-time series against Plymouth.
Seiss led Warsaw with 11 points, while senior Jennifer Scherer scored five points and classmate Kim Clay scored four points.
Elaine Hessel paced Plymouth with 11 points and eight rebounds, while Swihart finished with eight points and six steals.
The Pilgrims improved to 7-2 overall and 1-0 in the NLC.
Warsaw is in action again Tuesday at Columbia City (7-1).
PLYMOUTH 30, WARSAW 29
Warsaw 8 10 6 6 - 29
Plymouth 4 13 4 8 - 30
Warsaw FG FT R S Pts.
* DeGeeter 1-8 0-0 4 3 3
* Abbitt 0-3 1-1 0 0 1
* Seiss 3-6 4-6 2 0 11
* Scherer 0-1 5-8 3 0 5
* Smith 1-4 0-0 2 3 2
Denlinger 0-1 1-2 6 0 1
Clay 1-1 2-2 0 0 4
Snider 1-1 0-0 0 0 2
Wood 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Team 0-0 0-0 4 0 0
Totals 7-25 13-19 21 6 29
Plymouth FG FT R S Pts.
* Galt 1-1 0-2 0 0 2
* Hessel 5-9 1-2 8 0 11
* L. Swihart 2-5 3-5 1 6 8
* Keiser 2-4 0-0 1 1 4
* Payne 0-3 0-0 0 1 0
Edison 1-1 0-0 0 0 2
Barron 0-1 0-0 2 2 0
A. Swihart 0-0 0-0 3 0 0
Boyle 1-3 0-0 0 1 3
Team 0-0 0-0 2 0 0
Totals 12-27 4-9 17 11 30
Three-point goals - Plymouth 2-6 (Boyle 1-3, L. Swihart 1-2, Payne 0-1), Warsaw 2-7 (DeGeeter 1-4, Seiss 1-2, Abbitt 0-1). Turnovers - Plymouth 15, Warsaw 17. Fouls - Plymouth 20, Warsaw 15. Fouled out - Seiss. [[In-content Ad]]