Triton’s Mallorie Jennings heads for the hoop versus Plymouth Thursday night at Triton. The junior scored six points in a 39-36 overtime loss to the Pilgrims.

BOURBON – The Triton girls basketball team rallied to put itself in position Thursday night to remain unbeaten on the young season.

In the end, however, it was Plymouth who exited the Triton gym still sporting an undefeated record.

The physical Pilgrims, led by its trademark work on the defensive end of the court, made the big plays in overtime to topple the Trojans 39-36 Thursday night.

Sophomore Hunter Stevens and senior Amber Redinger each scored a game-high 13 points to pace Plymouth, which improves to 2-0. Redinger also corralled 16 rebounds for the winners.

Stevens hit a pair of free throws with 8.1 seconds to play in the extra session for the final points.

The Trojans, who fall to 2-1, misfired on a drive to the basket as time expired.

Triton, ranked No. 6 in Class 1-A, erased a nine-point deficit in the final frame to force overtime. The hosts closed the fourth quarter on a 9-0 run, capped by a driving layup by sophomore Krystal Sellers with just one second to play to tie the game at 32-32. The Pilgrims, who turned the ball over 11 times in the fourth stanza, did not score the final 5:26 of regulation play.

“We just came up a little short tonight, but we’ll learn from this,” said Triton coach Adam Heckaman. “We got it to overtime. We just couldn’t quite finish it.

“Plymouth is a good defensive team. They gave us problems. They didn’t let us do what we like in pushing the ball and get it where we like to. We dribbled too much at times and made some bad decisions.

“We just have to play a little tougher and adjust. We had a chance in overtime and we had some turnovers and made some bad decisions. We have a lot of kids who can score. We had some others step up and keep us in it tonight. I thought Mallorie Jennings had a nice game.”

Triton prefers an uptempo, pressing style of play. The Trojans, who had scored 61 and 54 points in their wins over North Judson and Argos, shot just 13-of-49 from the field Thursday night. The hosts also had 23 turnovers and were out rebounded 41-27 by the bigger and more physical Pilgrims.

Shana Anderson of Triton dribbles past a Plymouth defender Thursday night.

Junior Taylor Hatfield led Triton with nine points. Sophomores Becca Kennedy and  Kylie Mason and junior Jennings each had six points and senior Breanna Lemler five. Senior standout Shana Anderson, who was averaging 19 points-per-game, finished with just four on 2-of-11 shooting.

Plymouth won despite going 0-of-10 from 3-point land, 7-of-17 from the free throw line and committing 28 turnovers.

“We’ve got to find a way to score,” said first-year Plymouth coach Dave Duncan, formerly a longtime assistant with the Pilgrims. “Our defense has to carry us until our offense comes along. We do a lot of defensive drills.

“Our kids understand where the ball needs to go when we play defense. Tonight, it was about ball pressure. We knew it would be a hard-fought game. Triton is a good team. They are scrappy and well-coached. Hunter hit those two free throws and that gave us a little bit of a gap. In a game like this, one or two points was a gap.”

Triton, which lost just one senior from last year’s 16-6 team,  came out strong Thursday night. The veteran Trojans used their pressure defense to force eight Plymouth miscues in the opening period to lead 11-6. The Pilgrims regrouped, using a 10-0 run in the second period to lead 20-16 at halftime. Stevens scored eight in the second quarter and Triton had nine turnovers.

The third quarter was one of back-and-forth. Plymouth opened the second half with an 8-0 run to build their largest lead of the night at 28-16. Triton, led by Mason, closed the period with a 7-0 run to pull within 30-23.  The Trojans then used their 9-0 run in the final frame to force overtime.

The Pilgrims took the lead for good in the extra session on an inside basket by Redinger with 44 seconds left that made it 37-36. The Trojans then turned the ball over with 9.7 seconds to play before Stevens hit both free throws for the final three-point margin.

Triton has little time to think about this one. The Trojans play at South Central Friday night.

“It’s a busy week and that’s good and bad,” said Heckaman, whose team won at No. 10 Argos Tuesday night. “We don’t have much time to prepare for South Central, but the girls can take this one to heart and come out mad and with something to prove Friday night.”

Plymouth, which is looking to bounce back from a rare subpar season a year ago in which they finished 6-15, hosts Valparaiso Saturday night.

Triton won the junior varsity contest Thursday night 25-18. Autumn Kann and Becca Kennedy each scored eight points to lead the Trojans. Bailey Brown netted seven points and Shannon Stephenson had six for Plymouth.

Breanna Lemler of Triton looks for help while being closely guarded by Plymouth’s Amber Redinger Thursday night.