Salem maintains poise down stretch, upends Plymouth, 37-36

Salem freshman Lainey Claramunt drives to the hoop against Plymouth’s Emma Johnson.
Its tallest player is a three-point marksman.
One of its youngest (and average-sized) players is a creative wizard/tenacious rebounder in the paint.
Yes, Salem’s girls basketball team is unorthodox in a lot of ways, but it’s unfazed, too, which is the No. 1 reason the Rocks pulled out a heart-pounding 37-36 victory over Plymouth Friday night.
Three days after suffering a few costly late-game miscues in an overtime loss to Brighton, Salem rebounded with a heavy dose of resounding resilience against the Wildcats.
‘Isn’t this fun?!’
“During a timeout in the final minute, I asked the girls, ‘Isn’t this fun?! Isn’t this great?!’,” Salem Head Coach Rod Wells recounted moments after his team’s narrow triumph. “They all said, ‘Yes, Coach, this is fun!’

“When your top three ball-handlers are two freshmen and a sophomore, some games it’s going to lead to some gray hairs and a bald head for the coach. But tonight I loved the poise our girls played with.”
The Rocks were led by senior (and tallest player) Leilah Howard (14 points, three triples) and freshman Lainey Claramunt (12 points, nine rebounds), but their roster-wide cohesiveness was crucial in the final minute.
Plymouth was powered by strong play from junior Mackenzie Dicken (13 points), senior Izzie Krause (nine points) and junior Annie Flavin (six points). Junior reserve Emma Johnson added five points and game-changing energy off the bench.
Salem led comfortably throughout most of the P-CEP rivalry game, building a 32-26 cushion after three quarters.
(To check out video highlights of Friday’s game, click here.)
Power of the press
However, sparked by an all-out full-court press, Plymouth stormed back to cut its deficit to one — and possession of the ball with 22.1 seconds left.

A double-dribble call against the Wildcats with 7.5 ticks remaining gave the Rocks the ball 84 feet from their basket, cause for a timeout by Wells.
“I told them to make a sure in-bounds pass, set a pick and come to the ball hard,” Wells said. “I said whoever gets the pass, make sure you catch it and be ready to be fouled.”
Freshman Stella Stotz secured the inbounds pass and — like Wells predicted — was fouled immediately.
Resilient rebound
Although the ninth-grader missed her pair of pressure-packed free throws with 4.3 seconds left, Claramunt somehow forced a jump ball by grabbing the ball simultaneously with a pair of Plymouth players.
With the possession arrow pointing Salem’s way, the Rocks completed a routine inbounds pass to Claramunt, who hugged the ball as the buzzer sounded.

“We lost a tough one the other night in overtime because of mistakes we made in the end,” Wells said. “We still made some mistakes tonight, but not as many, so we’re growing.”
Wells said he was greeted by an encouraging sight when he arrived for practice the day after the Brighton loss.
Future is bright
“A few of my young players were waiting at the gym door, ready to get in there and work on their game,” Wells said. “When I left practice that night, the young players stayed after for quite a while and shot with my assistant coaches. That right there shows me our future is bright.”
Along with praising his freshmen and sophomores, Wells spoke highly of Howard and Noelle Martinez, the team’s lone seniors.
“Leilah played great,” he said. “She’s been on a roll lately. She’s a perimeter five, which is OK because she can knock down the three and she brings one of their bigs out of the paint.
“Noelle was solid, too. Very steady with the ball and she hit some big free throws.”
Salem improved to 3-4 in the KLAA West Division (and 7-5 overall) with the victory. The Wildcats slipped to 4-3 and 10-4, respectively.
Ed Wright can be reached at 734-664-4657 or edwright@socialhousenews.com.