The West Platte girls’ basketball team (10-4) is off to its best start since 1994, with the Lady Blue Jays’ most recent accomplishment being a third-place finish in the Lawson Invitational.
The Lady Blue Jays had a favorable first-round matchup and dismantled Richmond (6-6) 54-20 on Jan. 10. West Platte scored the first 21 points of the game – including a 16-0 lead after the first quarter – and didn’t allow a field goal by the Lady Spartans until the 4:13 mark of the second quarter.
“I thought our defensive intensity really set the tone; Richmond’s really not a bad team, they’ve won some games and beaten some good teams,” West Platte head girls’ coach John Kruse said. “I told the girls we were going to have our hands full if we didn’t come out ready to play, but we came out, forced some turnovers early and got some easy buckets to give us a comfortable lead.”
West Platte took a 29-11 margin at the break and kept its foot on the throttle and ended up with the 34-point victory. After the win, the Lady Jays’ winning streak was pushed up to six consecutive games.
West Platte senior Madisyn Matlick scored 13 points in the 43-34 third-place win over Cameron as the senior was the only Lady Blue Jay to make the all-tournament team.
“The biggest thing is we’ve had some time here to get acclimated with the new lineup at this point in the year. We lost Libby Vandal to an ACL injury – she was a starter for us, and she started every game last year – so it took us a little while to adjust to that. I think more than anything is just getting the girls in a little bit of a flow with the lineup set, we play a little more practice time,” Kruse said.
West Platte was tasked with taking on a Class 4 ranked team, and eventual tournament champion, in the next round when facing Chillicothe (10-3) on Jan. 12. The Lady Hornets outscored the Lady Blue Jays in every quarter and won 46-26.
West Platte never surpassed seven points in any quarter and only shot two-for-15 from behind the arc, both of which were made by Avery Holmes who ended with a team-high eight points. Madisyn Matlick and Colby Shepardson both added seven points apiece in the Lady Blue Jays’ first loss since December 9.
“They’re (Chillicothe) probably one of the best teams in Class 4, they’re really well coached. They have fairly good size and are aggressive and good defensively,” Kruse said.
In the third-place game, West Platte took on Cameron (6-7) and it was a tight first half on Jan. 14. After being tied at 10 after eight minutes of play, the Lady Blue Jays went behind 21-19 at halftime before going on a 13-5 run in the third quarter to go back up 32-26.
West Platte forced 23 turnovers – 10 of which were steals – and scored 22 points off of them, including nine points in transition. Every Lady Blue Jay who stepped on the court recorded at least one steal, led by Matlick with three, to help pull out the win and the second third-place tournament finish of the season.
“I think we’re a pretty good defensive team; we’re athletic for our size, we’re not very big, but we can move pretty well. We pressure people and that causes a lot of problems when we’re doing it to the best of our abilities, so our defense has always been solid,” Kruse said.
Matlick also had 13 points, five rebounds and two assists on the day to be the only Lady Blue Jay to earn a spot on the all-tournament team. Avery Holmes knocked down three shots from deep to end with nine points while Sam Baker and Julia Pattison both scored seven points and forced one steal.
West Platte had a tough road opponent when it traveled to Bishop LeBlond (12-0) on Jan. 17. After that the Lady Blue Jays will host Lawson (12-4) – who defeated West Platte 36-34 in the KCI Conference third-place game earlier this season – on Jan. 20.