To say the non-conference girls’ basketball game between host Plainwell and visiting Battle Creek Lakeview didn’t start the way Trojan coach Tim Rieman had been hoping would be an understatement.
A very, very large understatement. Like, huge.
Just how bad was the start for Plainwell?
Well, the Trojans found themselves trailing 17-2 early in the second quarter.
That prompted Rieman to call a timeout and have a chat with his players.
“I called that time out and explained their effort wasn’t where we expect it to be,” Rieman said. “I told them they were better than that. I said, ‘Now go out and compete for everything.’”
The Trojans did just that.
By halftime, Plainwell had narrowed the deficit to three points at 18-15. And the Trojans didn’t slow down from there.
Plainwell outscored Lakeview 32-16 in the second half to post the 47-34 victory in come-from-behind fashion.
“That was a great comeback win for us,” said Rieman, whose team improved to 5-1. “We played a great final three quarters to make up for that slow start.”
A trio of sophomores led the charge in what was a balanced scoring attack for Plainwell.
Alivia TerMeer finished with a game-best 13 points, followed by 11 from Kate Farho off the bench and nine from Rebecca Gibson.
Senior Korrin Johnson added eight points.
“Alivia and Rebecca have been our mainstays so far this season, and Korrin and Kate did a great job of fueling our run,” Rieman said. “We can be tough to defend because you really can’t try to stop one player.”
The Trojans can also be a tough team to score against, especially when Lakeview was forced to play without its primary ball handler for much of the second quarter due to foul trouble.
“Once their top player picked up her third foul in the first half, they lost their best ball handler so we upped our pressure,” Rieman said. “As a staff we decided to keep attacking them (in the second half). The girls responded and only let them score 16 more points the rest of the way.”
TerMeer also led Plainwell in rebounding with five and steals with four.
Senior Bree Colyer was second in rebounding with four.
And while Colyer failed to register a point in the game, Rieman credited her and Johnson with providing senior leadership on a team that features five sophomores.
“Having two captains in seniors Bree and Korrin who have taken the younger players under their wings has been fun to watch,” Rieman said. “They both lead by example everyday in practice.”
That leadership has helped the Trojans exceed Rieman’s expectations to this point in the season.
“We are ahead of where I thought we would be based upon our having five sophomores playing meaningful minutes,” he said. “We have handled the physical play of bigger teams except for the Three Rivers game. We only have three true post players on our roster, but the entire team has bought into our defensive style so far.”
And Rieman knows the path doesn’t get any easier.
“We have a very tough portion of our schedule coming up, so hopefully playing three Class A teams will help in preparing for it,” he said.
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