For the first time in half a decade, the West Platte girls’ basketball team (5-1) left the KCI Tournament with some hardware.
Madisyn Matlick had nine points, six rebounds and four steals in the 44-42 upset victory against North Platte on Dec. 6.
Although they entered the tournament as the seventh seed, the Blue Jays finished in third place with a pair of victories over North Platte (5-1) and Lawson (3-3). West Platte had a tough first round matchup when it had to take on No. 2 seeded North Platte on its home court on Dec. 6.
The Panthers were 3-0 entering the contest and had won the last seven matchups against the Blue Jays – with West Platte’s last win against the conference opponent being in 2016. It was a tight contest in the opening round when West Platte held a 2-point lead late in regulation.
North Platte tied the game at 42 with less than 20 seconds remaining, but West Platte sophomore Julia Pattison drew a foul with 0.1 second remaining. The point guard stepped up to the line and knocked down a pair of free throws – giving her 13 points on the night - to lift the Blue Jays to a 44-42 victory and they clinched a second-round appearance in the KCI Tournament after a five-year absence.
“Our girls played well and did just enough to win,” West Platte head coach John Kruse said. “I thought we did a really good job handling North Platte’s intensity and pressure.”
On Dec. 9, the Blue Jays had a chance to advance to the KCI Tournament Championship Game when they took on Lathrop (5-2). The Mules were the No. 6 seed and upset No. 3 seed East Buchanan (1-3) in the opening round, so there was an unexpected matchup in the semifinals.
West Platte struggled offensively, only shooting 20.8 percent from the field, 10 percent from behind the arc and 40 percent from the charity stripe. The Blue Jays only made nine of their 33 field goal attempts, two of their 20 3-point attempts and eight of their 20 free throw attempts as West Platte fell, 47-32.
“We played decent for about two and a half quarters and our poor shooting finally caught up to us. We really struggled to put the ball in the hole against Lathrop and that’s a testament to them as well - they are well coached and definitely outplayed us,” Kruse said.
The Blue Jays bounced back from their first loss of the season by defeating Lawson 32-31 on Dec. 10. After West Platte led 18-16 at the break, the second half was a bit unorthodox – each team outscored the other dramatically each of the final two quarters.
In the third period, the Blue Jays outscored the Cardinals 13-0, but in the fourth quarter Lawson outscored West Platte 15-1. The Blue Jays relied on their defense to secure the 1-point victory in the third-place game when they had 24 steals – eight of which came from Colby Shepardson – and had 23 points off turnovers.
“I really thought our pressure on defense was the difference in the game. We forced a good number of turnovers and were able to get some easy buckets off those turnovers, which ended up being the difference in the game,” Kruse said.
Emma Downing and Madisyn Matlick had four steals each, while Avery Holmes, Katie Groom and Pattison had two steals apiece. West Platte will hit the road on Dec. 17 for its next contest when it heads to Penney High School to take on the Hornets.