Another physical and talented opponent handed the Galion Lady Tigers their ninth consecutive defeat Tuesday night. Marion Pleasant used sound fundamentals and physical play on their way to a 65-16 win at Galion.

The Lady Spartans held Galion scoreless in the second quarter and allowed single digit point totals in the remaining three periods. Pleasant led 20-7 after the first quarter, 40-7 at the half and 54-11 after the third period.

Galion wasn’t able to match Pleasant’s size and quickness on either end of the floor.

The Lady Tigers were coming off a solid performance in their loss at Northmor but they were unable to sustain momentum.

“We’re two different teams when it comes to non-conference games and conference games,” said Galion girls basketball head coach Nick Vukovich. “In non-conference games we go all out, for some reason during conference games we don’t. It’s as simple as that, we’re two different teams.”

Facing another large halftime deficit Vukovich stressed short term success. “We told the girls, let’s win the quarter, its 0-0, let’s win the third quarter. That was our goal.”

Galion continues to alter starting lineups. Effort and injuries are the primary reasons. “Kids who are giving everything in practice are getting rewarded in the games, starting and playing more minutes,” Vukovichsaid.

Vukovich expressed frustration with the team’s play.

“We knew they were going to man press us, they were going to trap and be physical based on scouting. We show them everything they need to know in practice. There comes a point in time when they have to come out and do it themselves,” he said.

Pleasant head coach Nate Dendinger explained what he was looking for in his team during the course of the game.

“We really look to be as fundamental as we can. We look to execute offensively and defensively within game plan. We really just try to get as much work done as we possibly can. We’re trying to make strides and get better,” he said.

Pleasant had all 11 players in the scoring column. The Lady Spartans were led by senior guard Hannah Peltier with 14 points, Ashley Anderson and Nicole Verity came off the bench and added 11 and 10 points respectively.

Taylor Valentine led Galion with six points and Robin Barnes added four.

Galion continues to move beyond the failings of the past.

“We try to highlight the good stuff. Compared to the past were not doing any worse than the past we can only go one direction, that’s up,” Vukovich said.

He added: “Right now we’re telling the girls and our youth kids, we’re not winning a lot now but we can only go up. We’ve hit rock bottom. Do you want to be part of the change so we can move forward.”

Galion will try to move forward as the travel to Buckeye Valley on Jan. 9.