By Rusty Nixon Correspondent
PLYMOUTH — When Plymouth and Triton square off in girls basketball next week, more than bragging rights on the court are at stake.
Meagan Barron, of Plymouth’s Lady Pilgrims, decided it was time to add another friendly challenge to the game. Both squads will also compete to see who can raise the most money for United Way before game time.

“It was something I started thinking about being part of (The IHSAA Student Advisory Committee),” said Barron. “They really encourage you to think of ways you can contribute outside your sport. Your coaches are trying to teach you life lessons. Sometimes we get so focused on the game we don’t see the real reasons for what we’re doing.”
For Barron, the Lady Trojans seemed a natural partner for the project.
“There’s really such good competition between us,” she said. “I’m the most competitve person I know — it just seemed like it would be fun to have a little competition off the court too.”
For Triton’s girls it was a chance to serve.
“I thought it was a great idea when Meagan approached us,” said Mason McIntyre, athletic director at Triton. “We’re happy to be a part of anything to give back to the community.”
It also gave McIntyre and coach Adam Heckaman a chance to do something they’ve  been wanting to do.
“We’ve really been thinking about ways to get all of our athletes involved in community service projects,” said McIntyre. “Without the incredible support we get from our community we couldn’t survive as an athletic department, we really couldn’t survive as a school. Anything that we can do to give back to the community is something we want to be a part of.”
Each girls team member will collect as many pledges as they can and will encourage students at each school to participate also. Anyone coming to the game on Nov. 19 will be able to donate to the cause as well. At the end of the game there will be a tally and the winning team will get a traveling trophy, as Barron hopes the event will become an annual one be-tween the two teams. There are buckets located at both schools for community donations.
All donations will support United Way activities in their specific community — money raised in Bourbon will go to Bourbon causes, Plymouth to Plymouth.