With a ticket to the North Platte Tournament Championship Game on the line, the West Platte girls’ basketball team jumped out to an early lead and only trailed for a total of 19 seconds to snap North Platte’s 10-game winning streak on Jan. 26.
West Platte sophomore Sam Baker gets ready to attempt a shot in front of North Platte’s Gracelynn Hoffman in the Lady Blue Jays semifinal 58-47 win over the Lady Panthers on Jan. 26.
The Lady Panthers entered the semifinal round of the tournament as the No. 9 ranked team in Class 2, but they were unable to advance to the championship when they lost 58-47. West Platte (12-6) went on to put up a fight against Platte Valley (18-2) in the championship to finish as runner-up in the tournament, while North Platte (18-3) finished in third place with a 47-31 win over North Andrew (9-7) on Jan. 28.
“We’re at the point in the season now where we’re experienced enough that we know how the game works and how to respond so the girls were doing that in this tournament and I’m proud of them,” West Platte girls’ head coach John Kruse said.
Before this tournament, it had been 25 years since West Platte had played in any championship before taking on the defending two-time Class 1 state champions. Platte Valley scored the first six points of the day and went up 12-3 after one quarter before the margin was cut to seven points at the break.
The Lady Blue Jays kept the game competitive but ended up falling 44-33. Julia Pattison led the way with 12 points and Madisyn Matlick finished with eight points.
In the semifinal round against No. 2 seeded North Platte, West Platte jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead and the Lady Panthers didn’t get on the scoreboard until Karli Guinn made a layup at the 5:14 mark. Blair McHenry added a 3-point shot from the left wing with five seconds left in the opening frame to put West Platte up 16-6, but North Platte fought back and brought the game within one point before Julia Pattison scored a layup with 14 seconds left and the Lady Blue Jays went up 28-25 at half.
“I thought we came out the gate and did a great job and then in the second quarter, they made a really nice run at us, which I knew that was going to happen and the girls knew it too. I was proud that we responded and ended the half strong,” Kruse said.
The Lady Panthers scored the first two buckets of the second half with a baseline jumper by Kenedie Summers and a fast break layup by Lindsay Ramsey to put North Platte up 29-28. West Platte immediately responded with a triple on the other end by Madisyn Matlick to put the Lady Blue Jays back on top, 31-29, and they never relinquished their lead.
“The thing with North Platte is you have to understand what you’re up against; they try to win games by overwhelming you and they’re really good at it. Their defensive pressure is as good as you’ll see anywhere, so we spend a lot of time working on that because we know we have to play them and we’re going to play them a lot,” Kruse said.
After North Platte senior Gracelynn Hoffman sank a trey from the right corner with right under five minutes left in the third quarter, West Platte closed the frame out on a 9-2 run. Pattison scored three transition layups and McHenry made a shot from behind the arc with 24 seconds left and the Lady Panthers trailed 42-34.
“We won the third and fourth quarters, so we did exactly what we needed to do and remained calm when we needed to. It was a little iffy at times, but overall, we remained calm, we finished and put the ball in the basket, which makes a big difference,” Kruse said.
Ramsey scored the first bucket of the fourth quarter, but West Platte scored six unanswered points to go up double digits. Kaylee Griswald sank a shot from deep to close the gap to nine points with 1:00 left, but North Platte was unable to make a late comeback and lost its first game since 2022.
Matlick had a game-high 19 points while knocking down four shots from behind the arc and shooting seven-for-eight from the charity stripe, while Julia Pattison ended with 17 points, five rebounds and three assists. Colby Shepardson and Sam Baker both had seven points.
Before the clash with West Platte, North Platte had avenged its last loss at the time, doing so with a victory over Mid-Buchanan (7-12) in the opening round on Jan. 24. Entering the North Platte Tournament, the Lady Panthers had won their last nine games with their last loss being by a 12-point margin against the Lady Dragons back on Dec. 16.
In the most recent matchup, North Platte never trailed and took a 26-18 lead at the break. Kenedie Summers had a big second half – scoring eight points – and Jaylin Burgess added a pair of triples in the final two quarters to help the Lady Panthers pull out the victory.
“The girls were able to pull out the win in the rubber match against Mid-Buchanan in the first round. The back-and-forth affair saw both teams trading baskets and stops in the second half, but we were able to hold them off,” North Platte girls’ basketball coach Ryan Davis said.
Summers had 14 points on seven-of-12 shooting with five assists, four rebounds and three steals while Burgess had 11 points on three-of-four shooting from downtown. Karli Guinn ended with 10 points and seven rebounds and Lindsay Ramsey finished with nine points, 12 rebounds and four blocks.
Matlick and Pattison made the North Platte all-tournament team for the Lady Blue Jays and Ramsey was the only Lady Panther to earn that accomplishment. West Platte will be back at it at home against Lathrop (11-7) on Feb. 3 and North Platte will match up with the top team in all of Class 2, Bishop LeBlond (18-0), on Feb. 1.