Big Night From Viers, Defense, Puts Triton On Top Over Plymouth
November 18, 2022 at 2:57 a.m.
Big Night From Viers, Defense, Puts Triton On Top Over Plymouth
By Connor McCann-
The visitors began the game aggressively and found some success in doing so. The Lady Pilgrims played crisp ball in the opening minutes of the game, hitting Triton with a flurry of passes to find open shooters and calmly diverting their attention to attacking the paint if a play was broken.
From the opening tip, Triton made clear what its offensive intentions were: feeding Viers as much as possible. The first few shots didn’t fall and Triton found itself in an early hole. Another key cog in the offensive scheme was Atkins, who found some success from three-point range on open opportunities.
Riding the backs of those two players, Triton started to get it going offensively in a big way. Viers started finding better success in the post and started scoring at will. If the shot wasn’t there, Atkins was on the outside to bury the jumper. Shaking off a sluggish start, the Trojans ended the opening quarter by going on an 11-0 run, capped off by a buzzer-beating, bank-shot three from Viers as the buzzer sounded.
“The past four games, we’ve had trouble getting started out of the gate,” Triton head coach Kennedy Krull said. “We were really focusing on that over the last few days of practice, and they came out firing tonight.”
Taking a double-digit lead into the second period, Triton’s defense only got better. The passing lanes that were there for the Lady Pilgrims at the start of the contest had closed up. The looks that had been open before now had an arm up to contest. Plymouth would play better on the defensive side as well, limiting Triton’s successes. Triton went into the second half leading 30-16 with Viers and Atkins combining for 26 points.
“Between the two of them, every team wants to double either of them if they can. If one isn’t open the other one usually is and they make it work,” Krull said.
Looking to get back into the game, Plymouth would switch things up in the third quarter. Almost every trip down the court, Viers was met with a double team the second she got situated in the paint. The change caused fits for the Trojan offense, as the team slumped through the quarter only scoring six points. The Lady Pilgrims were able to score some points of their own, but still trailed by ten going into the final period.
“The pressure that started coming in that third quarter kind of rattled us when it first got there,” Krull said. “But these are things that are going to happen over the course of a game and season so we have to look at how to get better there.”
The Trojans were able to right the ship in the fourth and extend their lead once more. The suffocating defense returned and Plymouth was unable to score its first point of the period until the four-minute mark. Viers would grab a couple more rebounds and convert a layup and some free throws to finish her evening with 24 points, 14 rebounds and five blocks.
“We had shown some nerves in the last few games but tonight our IQ was through the roof, we executed everything we had been working on in practice,” Krull said. “We like the direction we’re headed in.
Triton faces off with Wawasee at home Saturday.
The visitors began the game aggressively and found some success in doing so. The Lady Pilgrims played crisp ball in the opening minutes of the game, hitting Triton with a flurry of passes to find open shooters and calmly diverting their attention to attacking the paint if a play was broken.
From the opening tip, Triton made clear what its offensive intentions were: feeding Viers as much as possible. The first few shots didn’t fall and Triton found itself in an early hole. Another key cog in the offensive scheme was Atkins, who found some success from three-point range on open opportunities.
Riding the backs of those two players, Triton started to get it going offensively in a big way. Viers started finding better success in the post and started scoring at will. If the shot wasn’t there, Atkins was on the outside to bury the jumper. Shaking off a sluggish start, the Trojans ended the opening quarter by going on an 11-0 run, capped off by a buzzer-beating, bank-shot three from Viers as the buzzer sounded.
“The past four games, we’ve had trouble getting started out of the gate,” Triton head coach Kennedy Krull said. “We were really focusing on that over the last few days of practice, and they came out firing tonight.”
Taking a double-digit lead into the second period, Triton’s defense only got better. The passing lanes that were there for the Lady Pilgrims at the start of the contest had closed up. The looks that had been open before now had an arm up to contest. Plymouth would play better on the defensive side as well, limiting Triton’s successes. Triton went into the second half leading 30-16 with Viers and Atkins combining for 26 points.
“Between the two of them, every team wants to double either of them if they can. If one isn’t open the other one usually is and they make it work,” Krull said.
Looking to get back into the game, Plymouth would switch things up in the third quarter. Almost every trip down the court, Viers was met with a double team the second she got situated in the paint. The change caused fits for the Trojan offense, as the team slumped through the quarter only scoring six points. The Lady Pilgrims were able to score some points of their own, but still trailed by ten going into the final period.
“The pressure that started coming in that third quarter kind of rattled us when it first got there,” Krull said. “But these are things that are going to happen over the course of a game and season so we have to look at how to get better there.”
The Trojans were able to right the ship in the fourth and extend their lead once more. The suffocating defense returned and Plymouth was unable to score its first point of the period until the four-minute mark. Viers would grab a couple more rebounds and convert a layup and some free throws to finish her evening with 24 points, 14 rebounds and five blocks.
“We had shown some nerves in the last few games but tonight our IQ was through the roof, we executed everything we had been working on in practice,” Krull said. “We like the direction we’re headed in.
Triton faces off with Wawasee at home Saturday.
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