ALLEN PARK — Historically, the Michigan Independent Athletic Conference has always had some long-standing rivalries at the high school level.
For Inter-City Baptist, one can safely argue their biggest rival over the years has been Plymouth Christian Academy. That rivalry was renewed once more Friday night via the first of two scheduled girls basketball meetings this season.The game was part of a doubleheader between the two schools with the boys basketball edition taking place immediately following the girls contest.
“It’s always fun to play against (Plymouth Christian),” Inter-City head coach Travis Myles said. “It seems like it is always a tough and close game, and there’s been a lot of good ones in the past. It’s always good playing those types of games, and there’s seemingly always high stakes with them.”
Friday’s affair was another one with said high stakes as there were, albeit still early, MIAC Blue Division implications. Inter-City had a chance to create a situation where three schools all had one loss in the league.
The Chargers did just about everything that Myles could’ve asked for, holding Plymouth Christian to one of their lowest scoring outputs this winter.
However, on a night where they led throughout the majority of the game, the locals unfortunately could not reach the finish line as the visiting Eagles extended their own winning streak to four games and escaped with a 38-36 victory.
The 38 points matched a season-low in a single game for the Eagles, something Myles was pleased with in the losing effort.
“One of the things I was super happy with tonight was our defense,” Myles said. “We held two really good scorers in check. I thought Macy Harrison guarded (Plymouth Christian’s Lauren Scott) really well the whole game. And Chloe Smith worked really hard to shut down (Plymouth Christian’s Clara Groen) as well.
“We just have to find a way to put enough baskets in the hoop.”
Despite their showing on the defensive side, Friday was also one of Inter-City’s tougher nights offensively as the 36 points is their second-lowest total in any game this season.
It was an encouraging start on the end of the floor for the Chargers, who scored 10 of the game’s first 13 points. They led by as many as nine in the second quarter before Plymouth Christian finished the half with six unanswered points.
The lead for Inter-City briefly grew to double-digits at 28-18 midway through the third before things slowly started to flip in the other direction.
A methodical 12-2 run helped that began in the third and bled over into the early moments of the fourth helped Plymouth Christian even things up for the first time since the opening minute of the second quarter. A Danielle Goodfellow corner pocket three-pointer gave the Eagles their first lead of the night with 3:30 to go.
Inter-City unfortunately could not reclaim the lead the rest of the way. They got within a single point on a couple of occasions, during what was a slew of timeouts traded between the two teams down the stretch.
Myles said a focus coming into Friday was rebounding and taking care of the ball. The latter, he says, ultimately doomed them when it mattered most.
“Those were a couple of things we talked about before the game,” Myles said. “We did the rebounding part well, but I think it was 26-16 in terms of turnovers. We can’t win a game doing that.”
Offensively, Inter-City was held to just six points in the fourth quarter. Myles said some of that had to do with the 1-3-1 defensive alignment that Plymouth Christian showed.
“I think the shot selection was alright,” Myles said. “There were a couple of rushed shots, or times we would get panicky and turn the ball over. But I thought we were still getting some good looks, just couldn’t convert enough.”
Senior Macy Harrison was one of just two scorers in the entire game to hit double-figures, turning in a team-high 10 points. Her classmates and fellow starters, Chloe Smith and Madeline Frank, combined for 17 points in the loss.
As per Inter-City’s scouting report, Lauren Scott for Plymouth Christian finished with eight points. Scott poured in 30 points and knocked down six threes in the Eagles’ win over MIAC foe Rochester Hills Lutheran Northwest earlier in the week. The freshman went 0-for-10 in her triple tries on Friday.
The visitors elsewhere got a game-best 13 points from the aforementioned Clara Groen.
Inter-City has now lost back-to-back games for the first time this season, against teams who are a combined 17-5 overall. Myles, however, is appreciative of the battles and the value they can bring in the long run.
“I think it’s huge for us,” Myles said. “It’s fun when you win but you learn a lot from the losses as well. There’s still a lot we can improve on. I was telling the girls that when we were winning, that we still weren’t at our highest potential yet.
“Sometimes the losses will show you that.”
UP NEXT
Inter-City (8-3, 2-2 MIAC Blue) will take the floor again next Tuesday, Jan 27 when they travel to take on Auburn Hills Oakland Christian. Looming after that is a rematch vs Northwest at home on Jan 30. The Chargers fell to the Crusaders, 63-41, back on Jan 9.
