Drew Aggus
Special to the Citizen
The North Platte Panthers took down the Tigers of Plattsburg in the consolation bracket championship game of the North Platte Invitational (NPI) 58-38 on Friday, Jan. 31.
The game, which was played in Dearborn, looked lopsided from the tip.
In the first quarter alone, the Panthers outscored the Tigers 17-4. Both teams attempted a full-court press early on, but the Tigers’ was broken pretty easily, while the Panthers’ was not.
Panthers coach Ryan Davis had his team much more well-prepared for the pressure than they had been at the beginning of the season.
“Earlier in the year, we would have had a lot of trouble with [the press],” Davis said. “But we broke their press early, and they weren’t able to break ours.”
The Tigers turned the ball over possession after possession, as they were unable to gain any traction.
By halftime, the Panthers lead had been cut to eight, but they didn’t let that last long. In the third quarter, they outscored the Tigers 17-10 with junior Ryann Smith pouring in all 10 of her points in the quarter.
“Our seniors really pumped us up in the locker room,” Smith said. “They really got us going. We wanted to win that game for them.”
DREW AGGUS/Citizen photo
Lonee French leads a fast break for North Platte against Plattsburg in the North Platte Invitational last week. The Panthers won the consolation bracket by beating Plattsburg 58-38.
In the fourth quarter, the Panthers stayed consistent, putting up another 16 points en route to the 20-point win. The Panthers’ strong defense and ability to get out on the break were to what Davis credited the victory.
“We took care of the ball, and we were able to turn them over,” Davis said. “Those are probably the easiest baskets that we’ve had all year, so that’s good to see.”
Davis was also pleased with how persistent his offense was.
“We were aggressive on the offensive end,” Davis said. “We didn’t get stagnant with it. We just kept attacking.”
Senior McKenzie Brockhoff led all scorers with 14, while sophomore Josie Roach put up 13 points of her own. Senior Madison DeBord also scored 10 in the victory.
With the win, the Panthers were crowned consolation bracket champions, earning fifth place overall in the tournament.
Platte Valley 59, West Platte 9
In the first-round matchup of the NPI between Platte Valley and the West Platte Bluejays, the difference in seeding showed, as the eighth-seeded Bluejays fell to top-seeded Platte Valley in a game played on Monday, Jan. 27.
The Bluejays were only able to muster up nine points in the game. Senior Tori Norman scored over half of her team’s points with five, while Katy Tharp and Katie Groom netted two points apiece.
Platte Valley ran away with this game from the start and held on to that early momentum for a 50-point win. They would go on to win the NPI girls championship.
Polo 44, North Platte 38
In a game that looked like a blowout early on, the Polo Panthers stormed back to upset the North Platte Panthers in the first round of the NPI.
In the game, which was played on Tuesday, Jan. 28, third-seeded North Platte found themselves up on Polo 19-6 at the end of the first quarter. In the first quarter alone, Josie Roach scored seven points, while Jordyn Smith knocked down two 3-pointers. They would finish with nine and eight, respectively.
At halftime, North Platte was still on top 25-16, but from there, Polo took over. They outscored North Platte 18-9 in the third quarter to tie the game at 34 apiece.
In the fourth quarter, Polo used the momentum that had sparked that third-quarter run to carry them to the finish line, as they won the game by six points.
Haley Aubrey led Polo to this win with her game-high 16 points; 11 of them came in the second half.
McKenzie Brockhoff had a team-high 10 points for North Platte.
With this win, Polo would move on to play Mid-Buchanan in the NPI semifinal – a game that they would lose. After the upset, North Platte move on to the consolation bracket, where they would face seventh-seeded Mound City.
Plattsburg 49, West Platte 30
West Platte’s second game of the NPI went much better than their first, but they were still unable to notch a victory, as they fell to the Plattsburg Tigers in the consolation semifinal on Wednesday, Jan. 29.
The Tigers jumped out to a quick 15-5 lead in the first quarter and never looked back. By halftime, they had stretched their lead to 27-14.
In the third quarter, the Bluejays were only able to put up four points, but in the fourth quarter, they outscored the Tigers 12-8 thanks to a couple of 3-pointers from Madisyn Matlick. Unfortunately for the Bluejays, it wouldn’t be enough, as they would lose the game by 19 points.
Matlick, Katy Tharp and Gretchen Raney each scored six points in the loss.
With the loss, the Bluejays were eliminated, while the Tigers would go on to lose to North Platte in the consolation championship.
North Platte 51, Mound City 20
Following their first-round upset, the North Platte Panthers bounced back, eliminating the Mound City Panthers in the consolation bracket semifinal, which was played on Wednesday, Jan. 29.
North Platte doubled the score of Mound City in the first quarter, as they held a 10-5 lead at the end of the first. In the second quarter, they tripled it, outscoring Mound City 12-4 to take a 22-9 lead into the half.
The third quarter was no different, as North Platte outscored Mound City 16-7 before putting the nail in the coffin by winning the fourth quarter 13-4.
According to players and coaches, the loss against Polo was a driving force for North Platte for the rest of the tournament, and it never showed more than it did in this game, as they defeated Mound City by 31 points.
Senior McKenzie Brockhoff dominated this game, nearly outscoring Mound City by herself. She was particularly strong in the second half, where she scored 13 of her game-high 19 points. Sophomore Josie Roach also put up 11 points in the win.
Mound City would be eliminated following the loss, while North Platte would go on to win the consolation bracket championship.