THE IZZY-ZONE: Plymouth’s Krause helps power ‘Cats over Stars
Evelyn Stiglish engineers a Plymouth fast-break Friday night against St. Catherine of Siena.
Friday night at Plymouth High School was Ugly Sweater Night, a girls basketball fundraiser to collect canned goods for those in need.
There was nothing ugly about the basketball played by the Wildcats during the second half of their game against visiting St. Catherine of Siena, which saw its once-promising five-point lead disappear under an avalanche of perfectly-schemed Plymouth point-blank baskets and a flurry of net-finding 3’s.
The Wildcats used a 22-2 run that stretched from the end of the second quarter to late in the third stanza to dim the Stars, 49-31, in the winners’ final game before the holiday break.
How To Beat A Zone 101
Plymouth dissected St. Catherine’s zone defense with quick perimeter passes and on-point dimes from the free-throw line to its two bigs (Izzy Krause and Annie Flavin) who were stationed on the low post most of the game.
Victors in their third game in four nights, the Wildcats improved to 7-1. St. Catherine slipped to 3-2.
Krause and junior Evelyn Stiglish were the scoring catalysts, combining for 30 points with Krause dominating the paint with 16 points. Stiglish’s night included three triples.
Juniors Mackenzie Dicken and Flavin also sparkled like the star atop a Christmas tree, scoring nine points each while providing a sleigh full of non-scoring stats like rebounds and assists.
(To check out video highlights from Friday’s game, click here.)
Team-wide spirit
The most-impressive non-scoring stat of the night for Plymouth was arguably when Sarah Figueroa-Parker drew an offensive charge on a Star player. After Figueroa-Parker’s effort landed her on the floor, her fired-up teammates hustled over to help her up.
Wildcat players also displayed their exuberance when reserve guard Mady McCarthy laid in the final two points of the game after accepting a slick backdoor pass from Olivia Graham.
Senior Caitlin Griffin led the Stars with 13 points, 10 of which came in the first quarter when the visitors built a 16-12 lead.
Plymouth is off until Jan. 7 when it travels to Howell.
Ed Wright can be reached at 734-664-4657 or edwright@socialhousenews.com.
