BOURBON – The Marshall County rivalry game between the Plymouth and Class 1A No. 6 Triton girls basketball teams was a good one Thursday in Bourbon. Going back-and-forth, it was the Plymouth Lady Pilgrims (2-0) who outlasted the Triton Lady Trojans (2-1), winning 39-36 in overtime. “We talked about the Marshall County rivalry with Triton and Plymouth,” Plymouth coach Dave Duncan said. “We knew it was going to be a hard-fought game.” After one quarter, it appeared the smaller Lady Trojans had control, holding an 11-6 lead, while Plymouth missed all seven of its three-point attempts. During the break, Duncan reiterated the Lady Pilgrims' height advantage, and sophomore Hunter Stevens responded, scoring eight in the second quarter, getting into the lane with ease. “We're slow learners,” Duncan said about his team, which only shot three more treys after the opening quarter, missing those as well. “We talked about that going into it. We just got excited and started shooting a lot of long shots. In the second quarter, we talked to the girls about where the ball needed to go. Hunter was in the middle and flashing to make a lot of things happen.” The height of his team has been a concern for Triton coach Adam Heckaman, and the reason for it was evident as Plymouth outscored his team 22-5 during a quarter-and-a-half stretch to go up 28-16 midway through the third. “They rebounded well,” Heckaman said, as Plymouth senior Amber Redinger hauled in 16 of her team's 31, while Triton had 17. “We didn't get into them as well as we should have to try to get some of those over-the-back calls. One thing we have to learn, and we've talked a lot about it is, we have to learn to step in front of people and take charges. We're not shot blockers. We're 5-foot-8 and below, so we're not going to jump up and block shots.” The Plymouth domination began to loosen when Triton sophomore Kylie Mason hit a three-pointer with 2:53 left in the third, cutting the Plymouth lead to 28-19. The shot sparked a 7-0 run to cut the lead to 28-23 until Plymouth sophomore Haley Harrell hit a bucket to end the third quarter with her team in front 30-23. The Plymouth lead grew to 32-23, and things didn't look good for the Triton offense, but another 7-0 run brought the home team within 32-30 following a three-point play by senior Breanna Lemler with 2:08 remaining in regulation. “We started to move the ball with the pass,” Heckaman said. “We were getting the ball reversed and driving the baseline, finding the middle of their defense. That's what you have to do against teams like that.” The teams exchanged possessions down the stretch and after Plymouth senior Lauren Tanner missed the first of a bonus free throw situation, Triton sophomore Krystal Sellers forced overtime with a layup as time expired. In the extra four-minute period, Triton jumped out to a 34-32 lead on a Lemler bucket, then still led 36-35 after a pair of free throws from junior Taylor Hatfield with 1:04 remaining. From there, Redinger gave Plymouth a 37-36 lead, which was followed by a turnover on Triton's next possession. On the ensuing inbound pass, Plymouth passed the ball to a streaking Stevens, who was fouled while trying to convert the layup. Stevens made both free throws, which were the last points of the game. “We kind of wanted to dribble it out, but we said we'd take a layup,” Duncan said about the risky deep pass on the inbound play with 9.7 seconds remaining. “She did a good job knocking down the free throws.” Stevens and Redinger each ended the game with 13 points, with Stevens posting seven rebounds and Redinger 16. For Triton, Hatfield led the way with nine points, but went 2 of 13 from the field, though she did make all four of her free throws. “It was about ball pressure,” Duncan said about containing Hatfield. “We wanted to try to make her uncomfortable most of the game. I thought our perimeter defenders did that.” Triton's leading scorer, senior Shana Anderson, was held to 2-of-11 shooting for four points, while Sellers, Mason and junior Mallorie Jennings all scored six. In the end, Triton was held to 26.5 percent shooting, converting just 13 of its 49 attempts. “They're a good defensive team,” Heckaman said about Plymouth. “They're quick, they're big, they're long. They can really get after it. They gave us some problems. We got out of what we like to do. We weren't able to push it, and that's because they were able to get back. When we struggled, our ball movement wasn't crisp. It wasn't good.” Many girls appeared emotional leaving the locker room, but with the game being out-of-conference, Heckaman wants to use it as a learning tool. “The bottom line is, we'll learn,” he said. “We'll learn that we need to play a little bit tougher against teams that play that way – depending on how the game is called. And we'll be able to adjust. This is a good opportunity for our girls to learn what it takes to be able to get to that level. I think we're there. We just came up a little short.” And Triton won't have long to fret over the loss, playing their third game of the week tonight in Union Mills against South Central, which was scouting the Plymouth game. “It's a busy week for us,” Heckaman said. “There's some good to it and some bad. We don't have time to prepare for them, but they have time to prepare for us. But, we can learn off of this loss and really go in there tomorrow night with a little bit of something to prove. We're a little mad about tonight. We thought we had a chance, we gave ourselves a chance, and we fell short.”
